A Witch in the Hidden Village of Leaf
by paperships101
Summary: Only Dumbledore knows she's a ninja. Only the Third Hokage and her Sensei knows that she's a witch. Hermione's two worlds are going to collide. HPXNaruto
1. Mission 1: I Have Returned

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Harry Potter nor Naruto, they belong to J.K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto. I'm just a mere fan who wanted to combine these two stories. Enjoy.

**AN: **Hello! So for those who know me, I'm sorry for abandoning 'Crowned.' I might continue it after I finish the semester because I'll be busy with my thesis but for now, let's enjoy reading this first :) Pairings will be Harry/Ginny and Naruto/Hinata. I still don't know who I'm gonna pair Hermione with, either Draco or Deidara :)

* * *

KONOHA

From tree to tree, she jumped with amazing speed and agility. She was happy and relieved that her earlier abilities hasn't waned off. She has been travelling for almost a week by foot with the exception of a boat when she needed to cross the ocean. It has been nine years since she departed the place she once called home and here she was now, coming back to serve it once more.  
She was eleven when she left the Hidden Village of the Leaf for a reason to study witchcraft abroad. It was a shock for both her and her parents when she received a mail from not a hawk but an owl. She just graduated from the academy gaining the title of female rookie of the year and has passed the chunnin exam three months prior her graduation. She thought at first that it was some kind of a joke when she read the letter telling her that she was a witch and that she has been accepted to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Honestly, there is no such thing as witches and wizards. Her normal self said but her logical side said so does a ninja. She went to the Hokage to tell him the weird mail that she received and was shocked to find out that it was real. A man clad in blue robes was with the Third Hokage and has explained to her that she was a witch and she was invited to attend the school for seven years. The Hokage has summoned for her Sensei and was with her the whole time she was being debriefed.

After she came to understand and accepted her fate, the Hokage has given her permission to pursue it. With a tearful goodbye from her Sensei and teammates, she left Konoha with her parents and Dumbledore and went to the land of United Kingdom. Her parents, being medical attendants, decided to become muggle dentist while she was away in boarding school.  
In Hogwarts, she became fascinated with magic which was slightly different with the jutsus that she had learned in the academy. She was only indifferent when handling a wand. Although she practiced and perfected her wand handling and waving, she couldn't help but compare it to using her chakra. There were times that she would sneak out during the night and train her justsus in the forbidden forest so she wont forget what she learned from the academy.

She gained friends while she was in Hogwarts and together, they embark adventures that sometimes she would remember the missions she had with her teammates. It was both fun and deadly especially when they had to face the war with Voldemort as their opponent. She and her best friends had traveled around Britain to hide from the Dark Lord and to look for his horcruxes. After the war, she has gained the title of being The Brightest Witch of her Age while the three of them were called the Golden Trio after they have defeated the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord was defeated but he was not dead, he's weak but not gone. They know he will eventually come back to kill them.

After she graduated from Hogwarts where she was the Valedictorian, she took up Healer apprenticeship in St. Mungos and after two years, she decided to go back to Konoha and train more so she could help defeat the Dark Lord. Her departure was unknown to her best friends and she wants to keep it that way.

Only Dumbledore knows she's a ninja. Only the Third Hokage and her Sensei knows that she's a witch.

Hermione Granger came to a halt and jumped down from the tree to look at the massive gate of Konoha. She looked at the surrounding and saw that beside the stone-face of the Yondaime on the mountain, another face has been added. Yes, it's been nine years since she left this place and a lot has changed. Her parents has left earlier and was back in Konoha three years ago when the second wizarding war has commenced. It was to protect them from Voldemort. When she heard the news when she stopped by and rested in Kirigakure that the Sandaime is dead, she felt that a part of her died too. The Hokage was like a grandfather to her much like Dumbledore was.

She crouched down to tighten the straps of her black sandals, then she stood up and took her forehead protector from her pouch and tied it on her head like a head band. She touched her brown braided hair and swept it so it rested on her left shoulder, tightened the knot of her white belt that held her red kimono-like top together and removed a leaf that has gotten stuck on her black shorts. She checked her weapons in her pouch and the small shurikens in a small bag that was tied on her left leg. When everything was in order, she hitched her backpack that held everything she owned from books to clothes that she shrunk to fit inside, she proceeded to enter the gate and saw some of the ninjas that she knew by face and some new faces. She kept walking and went to the direction of the Hokage's office. People that didn't know her gave her odd looks and those few who knows her gave her some hand waves and told her that they were happy to see her once again. She was too. She missed Konoha, she missed her Sensei and she missed those delicious dangos. She stopped outside of the Hokage's building and breathed in and out to even her breath. When she has gathered her composure, she moved forward, climbed the stairs and walked in the hallways until she found the door that was the entrance to the Hokage's office. She knocked three times and when a groggy come in was heard, she opened the door to see a woman with blonde hair that was tied in two pony tail and has big breast sat on the Hokage's chair accompanied by a girl with pink hair that looks to be about sixteen arranging stacks of documents. The blonde looked at her and scrutinized her for a minute.

"Hokage-sama. I am Hermione Granger, I have returned." She introduced herself with a bow.  
The Hokage looked at her oddly and was still confused why this girl was bearing a forehead protector meant for Konoha ninjas. The rosette has been quiet and was quickly thinking if the brunette was a spy from another hidden village. Just when the Hokage was about to question the witch, a loud bang was heard and Shizune walked in with urgency not once glancing at the brunette.

"Hokage-sama, I have news. One of our-" Shizune was cut off when a familiar voice has called her.

"Shizune-sensei." She turned and her eyes grew wide in realization.

"Hermione-chan!" She said and proceeded to hug her student. The Hokage and the rosette looked at the Sensei-student reunion.

"Ehem, Shizune. What were you going to say?" Asked the Godaime. She detached herself from her student and looked at the Hokage.

"Hai. One of our ninjas," and she gestured at Hermione. "Has returned. She is Hermione Granger. She was my student." She continued. Hermione once again bowed.

"I was away for nine years in the Land of the Celts. I was in Scotland and was studying. The Sandaime has given me permission to learn the art of magic in Hogwarts school with a motive that it will be useful for the village's military power. Hokage-sama, I am a witch and a ninja of this village. I graduated nine years ago from the academy and has passed my chunnin examination held in Iwagakure and Shizune-sensei was my teacher." Hermione explained to the bewildered Hokage. Shizune pulled out a book from the shelf and showed the Hokage Hermione's profile.

"Very well, since I trust Shizune and you're records says you are an impeccable ninja I will not question your loyalty. I will summon you to tell me everything that you have done and learned on your disappearance but for now, I will dismiss you. Sakura."

"Hai!" The rosette that was called Sakura answered.

"I want you to accompany Hermione and introduce her to all the chunnins and jounins that she doesn't know." Tsunade commanded.

"Wakata." And both Hermione and Sakura left the office.

* * *

"I'm Haruno Sakura." introduced the rosette. Hermione smiled at the medical ninja.

"I'm Hermione. So where do we meet them?" She asked.

"At the barbeque house. I'm pretty sure you're hungry." At this, Hermione nodded. All those running and leaping has caused her stomach to digest all her food quickly. "So, can you tell me what you've done while you were away?" Sakura carefully asked. She can sense that this girl was very powerful and was afraid to get on her bad side.

"Sure but I think it will be better if I tell it to everyone at once." She replied. Sakura nodded and they entered the barbeque house where team Asuma, team Kurenai, team Guy, Naruto and Sai were there eating pork barbeque.

"Sakura-chan, why did you took so long? Chouji almost ate your share." Naruto asked not noticing Hermione. At this, Chouji glared at the blond and proceeded to steal Naruto's barbeque. "Hey!" and they both fought for the barbeque piece. Sakura sighed and sat next to Sai while Hermione did the same.

"Hey, um I want you to meet Hermione." She said introducing her to everyone. Naruto stopped fighting with Chouji which caused him to loose his meat.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, and I will become the next Hokage, believe it!" Introduced the blond.

"Hi, I'm Yamanaka Ino, this one that looks bored is Nara Shikamaru and that one eating everything is Akimichi Chouji and we are team Asuma." She said.

"So troublesome." Shikamaru commented. Hermione looked at him while he was watching Chouji eating with bored eyes.

"I am Aburame Shino, I specialize in bugs. Why? Because our clan is known to use bugs as weap-" Shino was in the middle of introducing himself when a dog-looking guy beat him to it.

"Argh, let us introduce ourselves first before you go on and prance your ability. I'm Inuzuka Kiba and this is Akamaru." He motioned to the dog at his side. Akamaru gave a bark which made Hermione giggle.

"Hi, um, I-I'm Hyuuga Hinata." said Hinata with a blush.

"Yosh! I am Rock Lee. My lady, let us enjoy the springtime of youth together." He said making the nice guy pose and smiled with a ping showing his perfect set of white teeth. A fist landed on Lee's head that knocked him out.

"Don't mind him." said a girl with brown hair that was tied in two buns. "I'm Tenten. It's so nice to meet you."

"Likewise." the witch replied with a smile.

"I am Hyuuga Neji. Hinata-sama is my cousin." said the byakugan user. Hermione noted that he and her cousin has the same eyes and she wasn't unaware about the abilities of those eyes.

"I'm Sai, just Sai. You are Hermione Granger, the female rookie of the year before Neji's year and became a chunnin at the age of eleven." said Sai. The others were looking at Hermione incredulously save for Sai and Sakura who both know this. Hermione looked at the pale boy in surprise.

"How did you know?" she inquired.

"It's part of Sai's job as a former ANBU." explained Sakura.

"Oh. The Sandaime has offered me to become an ANBU but it was at the same time that I needed to depart so I declined it." Hermione explained.

"Wow. So Hermione-san, can you tell us why we haven't seen you before?" asked Lee.

"I've been away for nine years after I passed my chunnin exam. It was because a mail has arrived and invited me to study at this school. You all might get shocked but I was said to be not only a ninja but also a witch. I was accepted in Hogwarts where they teach the art of magic. I was hesitant at first but my thirst for knowledge has pushed me to accept it. It was all new to me but I got used to it. It was different though with the teachings in the Academy. I also had adventures while I was there. We faced a three-headed dog, fought dementors who sucked all of your happy memories and takes your soul and battled bad wizards that they call Death Eaters. I came back after my two-year Healer apprenticeship to train my ninjutsu because I want to help my best friend defeat someone who caused a lot of grief in the wizarding world." Hermione relayed. Everybody contemplated what Hermione just revealed to them. Sakura and Naruto both thought about Sasuke. Will he return to Konoha like what Hermione did?

"Hermione-san, can you please show us some magic tricks?" asked Naruto. Hermione was sort of insulted at Naruto's word thinking that magic was only used for carnivals. A wicked thought came to Hermione's mind. She remembered what he did to Ron during their sixth year when he was busy eating Lavander's face and thought of trying it again. A little spell wouldn't hurt and it was payback for insulting magic. The witch smirked while getting her wand from her wand pocket.

"Sure." Hermione waved her wand and summoned three canary birds. The ninja's looked at Hermione, to her wand, at the birds and back at her. "Oppugno." And the birds attacked Naruto and pecked his face.

"Ow, ow, ow. What gives?" asked Naruto while fending himself from the attacking birds. Everyone in the table laughed.

"Baka." Neji, Sakura and Shikamaru said simultaneously at Naruto.

"Finite Incantatum." chanted Hermione which made the birds fall in a lump on the table and disappeared with a pop. "Sorry." said Hermione impishly.

"Awesome." Kiba exclaimed.  
The group ate barbeques while they ask random stuff to the witch but no one dared to ask her to use some spells again in fear of becoming her next target.

* * *

LONDON  
"Harry! Ron! Hermione is gone!" Shouted Ginny Potter while running inside the Auror department. Many Aurors looked at the red-head who was dashing in the hallway dodging people. "She didn't showed up in our meeting place and she wasn't at St. Mungos."

"Ginny, calm down." Harry Potter said after walking out from his Head office to meet his wife. "Have you checked her flat?"

"Yes, she wasn't there. Her things weren't there, Crookshanks wasn't there too. Hell, even her Divination textbook wasn't there." explained a hysterical Ginny.

"Maybe she went back to her parents house." Harry tried. Ginny shook her head.

"I went there too, I also went to the bookstore she always visit, the café and even the salon but she wasn't in any of it. I asked her landlord, he said that she left a week ago. A week! I asked the receptionist in St. Mungos and they said that Hermione has already withdrawn her apprenticeship."

"Bloody hell." cursed Ron. He had walked on the couple when Ginny was explaining her search for Hermione. "Harry?" Ron turned to his best friend to see him set his lips in a tight-line and has a determined look.

"Ginny, I want you to go back home. Ron and I will work on this. I don't want you stressing over this. I'll tell you the everything when I get back tonight." He told his wife. Ginny was about to protest but Harry silenced her by placing his right index finger on her lips. "Shh, everything will be alright." He took Ginny's small body and wrapped his arms around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head.

"Fine. But you promise to tell me everything and I meant everything." She conceded.

"Okay I promise." And he rested his chin on top of her head.

* * *

"Harry, I know Hermione was a bit mental but I didn't know she would go bonkers and leave without telling us." Ron said while pacing back and forth in front of Harry. Harry on the other hand massaged his head where his migraine has started.

"Let's investigate her flat first. I have her spare key." replied the boy who lived.

"You heard what Ginny said, she took everything with her. How can we find something in there if she didn't left anything behind?"

"Ginny might have overreacted. We will find out once we see it for ourselves." said Harry calmly but inside he was experiencing the same hysteria as Ron.

"Fine." Ron took a seat and ruffled his hair in frustration. Just when the Dark Lord was gaining power and strength once more, Hermione decided to disappear. Then a scary thought made its way in Ron's mind. "Mate," Ron started carefully. "What if the Death Eaters kidnapped Hermione?" At this, Harry suddenly froze with the possibility.

"Ron let's not jump into conclusions. You heard what Ginny said right? She told her landlord that she was leaving and she formally withdrawn from St. Mungos." Ron was slightly relieved and so was Harry.

"Right. Hermione is strong. Death Eaters wouldn't have a chance to touch a piece of her hair. They'll be knocked out before they can utter help." Ron laughed at his own words but Harry can hear how fake it was.

"We'll find her mate, definitely."

* * *

"Potter, Weasley." called a man from the door. The two looked back to see two blonde people, a guy and a girl.

"Malfoy, Luna." Harry acknowledged the two Aurors. He has called both of them to help in their new assignment which is to find and retrieve Hermione.  
Harry has debriefed the both of what they were going to do. Malfoy was scowling at his superior the whole time. Why the bloody hell does he need to look for that know-it-all beaver? She's a grown up woman, she can take care of herself.

"I know what you are thinking Malfoy but we can't disclose it at that. Hermione is still a witch of this country and if she just leaves without proper explanation, she will be marked as a renegade witch. We can't let that happen." Harry explained.

"You are the Auror Head Potter, you can stop that." Malfoy reasoned.

"I hate to agree with Malfoy mate, but he has a point." Ron chimed.

"I know I can but I can't abuse my power. Malfoy, you still have connection with some Death Eaters right?" The blond nodded. "I want to know if they have anything to do with Hermione's sudden disappearance. Luna, you are going to gather data on Hermione's files in the archives to find anything peculiar. Ron and I will investigate Hermione's flat. We'll talk about our progress tomorrow. Dismissed."

* * *

"Ginny wasn't joking when she said that Hermione took everything with her." Uttered Ron in disbelief. He and Harry were currently inside Hermione's flat. They checked every nook and cranny but true to Ginny's word, there was nothing left except for the furnitures. They even checked under the bed, the couch and even the waste basket but nothing gave them of Hermione's whereabouts.

* * *

Malfoy has just finished talking with his mother through the fireplace but found that it wasn't the Death Eaters who were responsible for the witch's disappearance. The Manor was still the Death Eaters headquarters but Malfoy cannot go back in his own house without the threat of being Avada Kedavra'd by his Father. The whole group has discovered the traitorous act that the Malfoy heir did by joining with the Order and becoming their spy. He barely made it out alive if it wasn't for her mother saving him.

* * *

Luna has gathered everything that has a link to Hermione. Even her receipts in Flourish and Blotts has joined her stack to investigate. She scanned her school records and curriculum vitae and here, Luna found something. While she was checking on people that has a relationship with Hermione, she found them all to have birth certificates whereas the missing witch has none. Luna noted this and digged up for the birth records of witches and wizards to find none bearing Hermione's name. Strange, she thought. She wrote it down on her notepad and continued her research.

* * *

R&R :)


	2. Mission 2: Voldemort's New Ally

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter nor Naruto, they belong to J.K. Rowling who I will always look up to and Masashi Kishimoto who has turned me to become a frustrated artist.

**Authors Note:** Well hello. Here is Chapter 2 and I plan to call every chapter "mission." I got the idea from Katekyo Hitman Reborn (i love Lambo-san) where they use "target" instead of episode. Anyway, since you've asked for the Hermione/Deidara ship, I'm gonna be doing it, hihi. Post-Hogwarts. Some events in Deathly Hallow transpired but Voldy's not dead, Dumbledore is. In Narutoverse, Naruto just got back from his training with Jiraiya. Thank you to my wonderful reviewers who has given their time to post positive feed backs and to those who added this to their favorites and followed me and this story. Arigatou! I will send you Sasori, Itachi and the Weasley Twins to give my deepest thanks. I just noticed some loopholes in the first chapter so I'm gonna correct those in the coming chapters.

Shoutout to those who left their reviews for Chapter 1: **MoonWatersLight, LeeArt, asredwer, gizzelleex3, MellissaKatherine** (who pointed out a lot of things to me in the story, thank you! I checked out the site you were recommending) and to the 2 guest reviewers. Thank you so much!

English is not my mother tongue.

Age: Hermione, Harry, Ron, Draco, Neville, Deidara and Temari are 19, Lee, Tenten, Sai, Neji, Kankuro, Ginny and Luna are 18, the rest of Konoha 11 and Gaara are 17 to 16.

Mission 2: Voldemort's New Ally

**LONDON**

"So all we've got is Hermione's missing birth records. Luna, have you tried the muggle archives?" Harry asked Auror Lovegood.

"I haven't. Our ministry has no access to the muggle archive, Harry. I need a request letter from you so I could ask Minister Shacklebolt to give me a permission slip to the muggle archive." Luna explained to her Head.

"Great. I'll owl it to your cubicle asap. Malfoy, are you sure that it's not the Death Eaters plan to abduct my best friend?" Harry asked pointedly at the Slytherin. The said man glared at the bespectacled(sp?) boy and replied rudely.

"I told you everything what my ally told me, it's not them and they didn't even know that she is missing!" replied an enraged Malfoy after being accused of lying.

"What if your ally was lying to you?!" Harry shouted back.

"She would not dare. My connection inside is my mother, she would not lie to me." Malfoy replied in a small voice not wanting anyone but them to hear his answer.

"Your Mother?" repeated Harry.

"Yes, my Mother. You know, the one who lied to Voldemort that you're dead to save both of our arse." uttered Malfoy while pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. With nothing to comment, Harry opted to stay silent. "Look, have you tried looking in the house of Granger's parents?"

"No, Ginny said that she wasn't there." Ron replied daftly. Malfoy looked at them weirdly as if to say that they are stupid.

"I know your sister said that she wasn't there but she didn't say that she took her parents things. I can't believe you overlooked that! Ugh, why did I end up being teamed with such idiots except for Lovegood?" Malfoy said exasperatedly.

"Hey!" both Harry and Ron cried in protest.

"Thank you, Draco. It's rare for me to hear people talk about me in a nice way." Luna said dreamily.

"Okay?" replied Malfoy unsure how to respond to the eccentric witch. He stood up from the swivel chair and fixed his cloak. "Well, I best be going."

"Where are you going? We are not finished here!" called his superior when he walked to the direction of the exit. He grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.

"I'm going to Granger's family house. There might be some clues where she had gone off. Lovegood, are you coming with me?"

"Okay." Luna skipped to the blond's place and together they went out from the conference room and went to the atrium to floo out of the ministry.

"Are Luna and Malfoy dating?" asked the confused raven-haired Auror to his partner. He was still staring at the door where the two blonds exited. Ron was thinking the same thing.

"No, I won't accept the possibility Harry. That's like incest." At this, Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron.

"Eh? Incest? They are not related Ron." he said matter of factly.

"I know, I just want to use that word, haha. And besides, they're both blonds" Ron laughed at his own lame joke. Harry looked at him weirdly and slowly stepped away from him fearing for the worse that Ron had turned mad.

* * *

"What have you found?" Luna asked as the Slytherin entered the kitchen of the Granger's household. He went looking at the attic while Luna searched in the bedrooms.

"Just some old miscellaneous and photographs from her childhood. I figured that they might lead us to her whereabouts. How about you?" He returned the question. Luna beamed.

"I found her missing birth certificate." and she held it up and waved it.

* * *

**SOMEWHERE IN THE WIND COUNTRY**

Two men clad in black robes with red cloud patterns stepped inside a pottery shop. The young man with blond hair looked at the clays while his companion waited for him to finish his business. While the blond was examining some top quality clays, his companion, who was in a crouched position, was complaining that they were behind schedule and he doesn't want to be kept waiting.

"Fine, I'll take 2 kilos of this, yeah." The blond pointed at some clay lump. The shop owner weighed it and put it inside a plastic container and handed it to the blond. The blond smirked and placed his purchase in a belt bag inside his robes. The two walked out from the store and headed for the direction of Sunagakure.

"I don't think that clay is enough, Deidara." said the crouched man. The blond who was named Deidara smirked again.

"It will do, Sasori no Danna." He replied still smirking. He was confident that he will capture the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi with just a small amount of clay. Sasori grunted at his partner in reply.

* * *

**KONOHA**

Hermione went to the Hokage's office on her summon, it was time for her to tell everything that she had learned and experience in the foreign country of Great Britain. When she arrived inside the office, she found the Hokage drinking some sake and Shizune scolding her for drinking while working. Hermione stiffled her giggle as she saw how Shizune disapproves her master's behavior reminding her of her Transfiguration professor.

"Oh, Hermione-chan you're fast." said Shizune to her former student.

"Um, I apperated from our house." she explained. Shizune nodded knowing what she meant. "Hokage-sama, you called?" Hermione turned to Tsunade who was looking at her with flushed cheeks.

"Ugh, ye-yes. Let's wait for Ibiki and my head ache to subside. Ugh." Tsunade groggily said while nursing her pounding head. Hermione took something from her pouch and handed a vial to the Hokage. Tsunade looked at it skeptically.

"It's a potion to make you sober. I learned it while I was training as a Healer in Britain." Tsunade took the bottle and examined the swirling red liquid, she pulled off the cork and smelled it to see if it was safe to drink. When her instincts say it's fine, she drank it in one gulp and seconds later, her vision was not spinning anymore, her head ache was gone and the flush on her cheeks were no longer visible. Shizune watched in amazement as the Hokage regained her sober state.

"I say, this potion is magnificent. Hermione, I want you to make me a thousand of this. This is not a request, this is a mission." Tsunade commanded.

"Tsunade-sama!" came Shizune's scolding voice. The witch and the Hokage cringed at Shizune's voice.

"It's fine Shizune-sensei." Hermione replied calming her former sensei. Shizune just sighed and continued arranging some documents while Tsunade was surprisingly doing her work. A knock was heard and Morino Ibiki went inside the Hokage's office.

"Ibiki, this is Hermione Granger." Tsunade introduced. Hermione bowed at the investigator which he returned with a nod.

"Granger, I will ask you questions that you need to answer truthfully. I will know if you're lying." He told the witch.

"Hai!" replied Hermione confidently. She inspected Ibiki's appearance and composure and she could not help but compare him to Mad-eye Moody, her former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"Very well. How did you found out that you are a witch?" Ibiki started.

"I was eleven when I received a mail via owl saying that I've been accepted to a school that teaches magic." she answered without falter.

"Good. And what was your reaction to this?"

"I was surprised. I thought it was a prank at first."

"And how did you confirmed that it was real?"

"I went to the Sandaime and he introduced me to the school's Headmaster who explained everything to me."

Ibiki kept on questioning Hermione the basics and Tsunade listened while Shizune took notes of her former student's answer.

"What drove you to come back to Konoha and I want the whole truth."

"Um, you see, I have a friend in the magical world and his life is in danger. A dark wizard is after him and I wanted to help him so I came back to train more and help him defeat the Dark Lord."

"And who is this Dark Lord you speak, Granger?"

"His name is Voldemort. He killed a lot of people to gain power and has been after my friend ever since." she replied.

"Why is he after your friend?" At this, Hermione raised one of her brows.

"I don't want to be rude Ibiki-san but this things doesn't concern you."

"On the contrary, it does Hermione. You said you were involved in that war and since you are still a ninja of this village and carry the name of this village, Konoha is very much involved in your adventure." It was Tsunade who interjected the interrogation. Hermione sighed defeatedly and conceded.

"Fine, Harry, my friend, and his parents were attacked by Voldemort when he was one. He killed both of his parents but he cannot kill Harry and in turn, destroyed himself but after 13 years, he was resurrected by his followers and started causing chaos in our world killing and using innocent people just to fulfill his goal which is to kill Harry, become immortal, rule the wizarding world and destroy those who oppose him and wizards and witches without magical heritage, including myself. It was in the prophecy that Harry will be the one to kill him but he needs our help. I have made up my mind long ago when I decided to be his friend that I will help him no matter what." She finished with a big intake of air.

"We understand. You can train all you want Hermione but, you are still a ninja of this village. When I give you a mission, you need to do it as your obligation to Konoha." Tsunade explained.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." she replied with a nod understanding what the Hokage was trying to imply.

"I think that is enough, Ibiki. You may depart. Hermione, you will stay here." Ibiki went out from the office and left the three women. "You will be in a team with your former team mates. I will give your mission tomorrow when they arrive from their mission but for now, I am assigning you to learn the art of healing using your chakra. Sakura will teach you in the Hospital and in return, I want you to teach her what you have learned during your Healer training that doesn't require your wand. When you have no mission assigned, you may help in the Hospital." Tsunade explained to the ninja-witch.

"Wakarimashta." She answered taking in every word that the Godaime has told her.

"Dismissed." Tsunade uttered to the witch. Hermione bowed and disappareted from the Hokage's office with a pop. Shizune and Tsunade stared at the spot where second before the witch has stood.

"The only difference is that there was no smoke when she disapperated." Shizune said to her master observing the difference between a jutsu and magical apparition.

* * *

**MALFOY MANOR**

Narcissa Malfoy sat stiffly on her chair while the Dark Lord was talking to his followers. She was still worried for her son's life and also for herself since she has replaced him as the Order's spy. If it wasn't for Lucius and her skill in occlumency, she would be joining her cousin in the other world. Voldemort sat at the head of the table and was talking with his most faithful servant, Bellatrix LeStrange, Narcissa's deranged sister. She wondered if Bella and the Dark Lord were lovers but erased it immediately fearing that Voldemort will penetrate her mind without consent.

"Narcissa." A hissing voice called her which caused all the hair in her body to stand.

"Yes, my Lord." She replied feigning respect for the half-blooded snake.

"A guest will arrive in your Manor tonight and I want them to stay in here. I hope that is not a problem." Voldemort said in a commanding voice daring the Manor's mistress to object.

"It will be fine, my Lord. A guest of yours will be always welcome in the Manor." she answered in a calm voice hiding her quiver. It was not often that the Dark Lord would talk to her, much less acknowledge her very presence.

"Very well said, a wrong answer would have made you join your bloodtraitor cousin." He hissed at Narcissa. The said witch was still void of any emotion but her hands that were resting on her lap was shaking uncontrollably. She felt someone took her left hand, she looked at her left side to see who took them and saw her husband. Lucius was not showing any indication that he was giving her wife reassurance but Narcissa was grateful for this little thing that her husband did for her.

"The guest I speak of is from another country. He will help us defeat Potter's allies and in return, we will help him in defeating his enemies." Voldemort started. The Death Eaters were either eager to hear what the Dark Lord was saying or were thinking of ways to get out without getting killed.

After an hour, dusk has settled and a knock was heard from the Malfoy's dining. An elf answered the door and escorted three man to the dining hall where Voldemort and his Death Eaters were situated.

"Ah, you have arrived on time, Orochimaru." Voldemort greeted his new ally. The Sannin smirked at the wizard.

"Yes, I trust you know that I hate being late, a quality that I have acquired from my former partner." Orochimaru replied.

"Friends, I want you all to meet Orochimaru-sama. And who are your companions, Orochimaru?" The wizard asked the ninja. Orochimaru smirked once more and introduced them.

"Kabuto and Sasuke-kun." He motioned to the two ninjas. Kabuto smirked at everyone and Sasuke glared at them.

"I thought you said you were going to train me Orochimaru. I'll be going, just call me when you need me." said Sasuke darkly. Voldemort was surprised with the way the dark-haired boy talked to Orochimaru but didn't showed it. Orochimaru smirked again at his future container as he was being escorted by an elf to his assigned bedroom.

"Sasuke-kun's very eager to kill his brother." He explained to the bald wizard. "So tell me about your plans, Voldemort."

* * *

Ooh, Voldy's teaming up with Orochimaru, haha I know this is cliche but I really wanted to do it. Anyway, wanna guess who Hermione's former team mates were?

Kindly point out some mistakes I've made but please don't flame. R&R :)


	3. Mission 3: The Plot Thickens

**DISCLAIMER: **J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto. I own nothing so please don't sue me.

**A.N. **So here is Chapter 3 and I want to thank everyone who left their reviews for the last chapter and to those who followed and added this to their favorites. Arigatou!

Shoutout to the Guest reviewer who figured out Hermione's team mates and to my sister who nagged me to mention her here, she gave me a lot of ideas for this fic. (_Ayan ate binanggit na kita._)

English is not my mother tongue so bear with me for some grammatical errors.

* * *

**Mission 3: The Plot Thickens**

**KONOHA**

The two chunnins where currently inside the Hokage's office waiting for their new team mate. They were both complaining to the Godaime that the two of them can work perfectly together and that they need not a third person in their team.

"Urusai!" The Hokage bellowed at the two chunnins. The two shut their mouths and cowered at the enraged Hokage. "I know perfectly well how you two fight and I don't doubt your shinobi skills. I just don't want her to do missions on her own since she just came back from a long hiatus and besides, I'm sure you will be surprised to find out who she is." explained Tsunade.

"Then tell us who she is?" one of them pleaded. Tsunade shook her head and smiled playfully at them. The two looked at each other and sighed in defeat. A knock was heard and in came Hermione.

"Oh, konichiwa Kotetsu-kun, Izumo-kun." greeted the witch to her former team mates. The two chunin looked at the witch weirdly thinking of possible answers of how on earth she knew their names when they clearly have never met her.

"You know us?" asked Kotetsu confusedly to the witch. Hermione chuckled at the bewildered expression that the two were wearing.

"Of course, we were team mates, remember?" she told them matter of factly. The two were in a state of shock after finding out that the kawaii kunoichi in front of them was none other than their bossy, know-it-all team mate. Hermione smiled amusedly at the two.

"Hermione?" the said witch nodded. "Wow, when did you arrived?" asked the still surprised Izumo. 'And when did you became beautiful?' He thought.

"Three days ago." she replied. Kotetsu was still gaping at her. Who would have thought, the buck-tooth, bushy haired girl from their team would actually become a very beautiful woman.

"Since you are all here, I will give you your mission." started the Hokage. "The Sun Village has requested for Konoha's assistance. It seems that they are being attacked by bandits during the night to get the golds that they mine. What they want is for you to protect them until they finish stocking their mines in a safe. This will be classified as a B-Class mission and I am assigning Izumo to be the team's captain, you may leave at once." she finished.

"Hai!" The three said in chorus and together, they left the Hokage's office.

* * *

The three jumped from tree to tree to the Sun Village's direction with Izumo leading the way. It would take two days for them to get to the village and while they were travelling, Kotetsu couldn't help but glance at Hermione.

"Kotetsu-kun?" Hermione called. The said man snapped his head at her direction.

"Hai?" Kotetsu replied. He was hiding his blush from the girl that has become his crush.

"How have you two been?" she asked the bandaged man.

"We're fine. And you? It's been so long." he answered. Hermione smiled making it impossible for the lovesick Kotetsu to hide his blush. Good thing the witch was not looking at him anymore but at the direction they where headed.

"M-uhm. Yes, so long. I hate to admit it though but I kinda missed you both." she uttered surprising Kotetsu. Izumo was hearing the whole conversation and smiled to himself.

Izumo was now formulating plans to court their lovely team mate. Little did he know that Kotetsu was thinking the same thing.

* * *

**MALFOY MANOR**

"I have found the perfect person to become my heir." the hissing voice of the Dark Lord was heard at the dining hall where his followers and his guest where. Narcissa was once again with them although she was never been marked with Voldemorts dark mark. She was silently rejoicing that the Dark Lord has averted his eyes from his son to another person.

Draco is suppose to be Voldemort's heir but when Draco forgot to block his mind during one his and Voldemort's training, the Dark Lord has penetrated his mind without warning and found out that he was the Order's spy. He disapperated before Voldemort could cast the killing curse at him but Draco wasn't safe in the Manor any longer. He fought Death Eater after Death Eater as he tried to escape from the place that he once called his home. His mother came to his rescue and disapperated them both to the cellar where he, along with Olivander, the Dark Lord's prisoner, disapperated to Andromeda Tonk's house, Narcissa's estranged sister.

"My Lord, my son is here." came one of the Death Eater's voice. A young man clad in a black cloak swaggered to Voldemort's direction with a smirk plastered on his handsome face and bowed down at the Dark Lord.

"My Lord, I have come willingly here to serve you to which purpose you may have. I am absolutely thrilled when I found that you have chosen me to do your bidding. I, Theodore Nott, will forever bow down to you, My Lord." at this, the Dark Lord cackled.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the perfect heir. This time, I have not mistaken to choose young Nott to become my successor. You've done a splendid job in raising you son, Nott unlike Lucius here." The Malfoy master cringed at the icy voice of Voldemort. "Theodore, I will train you starting tomorrow. I've heard from your father that you are a great potioneer and that you finished Hogwarts at third place next to the blood traitor Malfoy and that Mudblood Granger. Ah, I hope that you know where your loyalty lies."

"My loyalty will be forever yours, My Lord." he answered calmly. He wasn't afraid of the Dark Lord, hell Theodore was beyond happy that now, he can prove to his father that he was of worth, that he can never compare him to Draco Malfoy again.

"Excellent, your Marking Ceremony is scheduled tonight in this very hall. I will be the one to burn the Dark Mark into your arms which will entitle you as a member of my Death Eaters." the Dark Lord told the black-haired boy.

"I'm looking forward to it, my Lord." replied Theodore with a smirk.

Orochimaru couldn't help but smirk at the event unfolding in front of him. It seems that Voldemort really is a powerful wizard and Orochimaru is no doubt happy with his decision to join forces with him.

"What do you say, Kabuto?" the Sannin turned his attention to his intelligent side-kick. Kabuto pushed his glasses up with his index finger and smirked.

"Voldemort-sama is a very charming man." was his only comment. Orochimaru smirked knowing that the statement Kabuto gave has a lot of hidden words. He looked at Sasuke who was watching the whole scenario with bored eyes.

"Hn." same as Kabuto, Sasuke's grunt also means a thousand things.

* * *

**AUROR DEPARTMENT, MINISTRY OF MAGIC, LONDON**

It was only three days ago when a hysterical witch was running towards the Auror Department but today, another witch was doing the same thing, the difference is, a wizard was in her tow trying to catch up.

"Pansy slow down!" shouted Blaise Zabini at his girl best friend. Pansy didn't take heed of Blaise's request and dashed inside to look for Malfoy. "Crazy witch." Blaise muttered to himself while following Pansy.

"Is Draco here?" Pansy busted inside a conference room. A lanky wizard shook at the very presence of the intimidating witch and shakily pointed at the next conference room. Pansy took off without thanking the poor man.

"Sorry about that." Blaise apologized and tried to catch up to Pansy once more.

"Draco!" cried Pansy after opening the door of the second conference room. Ron was in the middle of sipping his coffee and managed to spurt all of his coffee out on Harry's face when the witch entered the room with Zabini in tow . Blaise couldn't help but laugh at the scene but stopped when Pansy glared at him. Draco watched in amusement at them while Luna was busy counting wrackspurts. Pansy ran to his other best friend and cried at his chest. "Umph-phm-phm-ump-phm." She said through his chest but no one could decipher what the witch was trying to say.

"Pansy, calm down." Pansy looked up with puffy eyes and saw Malfoy giving her one of his rarest smiles. "Okay, breathe. Inhale, exhale." Malfoy instructed and Pansy obliged. Blaise took a seat next to Harry and Ron who was gaping at the two. "Okay, can you tell me what's the problem now?" asked Malfoy in a soothing voice.

"H-he chose another heir, Draco." Pansy started.

"Who chose another heir?" Ron interjected which earned him a death glare from the witch.

"The Dark Lord." Blaise replied for Pansy.

"Who did he choose now? I hope it's not you or Blaise." Draco uttered fearing for the worse.

"No," at this, Draco's fear subsided but only for a second. "It's Theo."

"What?!" Both Draco and Luna bellowed. The whole gang looked at Luna's direction in confusion wondering why she joined Malfoy's outburst.

"Um Luna?" Harry started but the blonde witch was ready to reply before he could complete his question.

"Theo was a good person to me. He once helped me look for my shoes and feed the Thestrals. I had a bit of crush on him you know." Luna explained.

"Wait, when did that happen?" Ron questioned while Blaise asked when did Theo became nice at the same time. Luna didn't replied to both.

"Pansy, tell me everything." Draco ordered the witch. Pansy took a deep breath and started relaying everything she knew.

"I found out from Daphne that the Dark Lord has summoned for him and she said that she heard Theo's father talking with his father that the Dark Lord wanted him as his new heir since you already became a traitor. Daphne said that Theo was so excited that finally, he will be able to prove to his father that they're equal and to also beat you, Draco." Pansy explained. With this, Draco gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.

"Shit!" and he punched his table breaking it into half. "He's living the life that I left and we can't let that happen to him. Blaise, Pansy we need to save him. I don't want him to become the monster I was. I already lost Crabbe and Goyle, I don't want to loose another friend." Draco said with so much conviction and determination to save one of his friends. Theo was his best friend and he doesn't want him to follow the path of the dark.

"There's more Draco." Blaise chimed in. Draco and the rest turned their attention at the Italian wizard.

"The Dark Lord has allied with a foreigner named Orochimaru. I don't know what the foreigner can do but I bet he's as powerful as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or even more and his two companions are no exception." relayed Blaise. "Another thing is that they came from a country that no one has ever heard of."

"And do you know what country, Zabini?" asked Harry carefully. The Slytherin nodded.

"Yes, if I heard correctly, they were originally from the Country of Fire." The Aurors gaped at the revelation. Blaise and Pansy looked confused. "What?"

"That's where Ron and Malfoy are going." Harry supplied. Pansy raised an eyebrow at the coincidence of the situation.

"And why is that?" she asked curiously.

"You must solemnly promise though that everything that is said inside this conference room will not leak out." The Head Auror said sternly still not trusting the Slytherins.

"I swear it to my father's grave." said Blaise.

"Not a word." Pansy's reply. Judging them, Harry thought that he could trust them since they gave information about Voldemort's new schemes.

"Hermione's been missing for 10 days. We have searched everywhere but we never found her. Malfoy and Luna investigated her parents house and found out that the Granger family was from the Fire Country. Since Hermione is a witch of this country, she needs to be returned or she will be marked as a rogue witch. Our only lead is the Fire Country that's why Ron and Malfoy are going there to find out if she's there." Harry explained for the two.

"Potter I need to stay here. I need to save Theo." Draco told Harry determinedly. Harry shook his head sadly at the blond.

"I'm sorry Malfoy but this pairing is final. You need to find Hermione and I'm adding something in your mission, you are to gather information about Voldemorts new ally while you're at it. It's the best place for you to find valid data about them. We'll find a way to save Nott." Harry said. Malfoy gritted his teeth and punched Harry square on the jaw. He was fuming and walked out immediately followed by Pansy and Blaise while Harry nursed his injured jaw.

"You have to understand him, Harry." came Luna's voice. She walked towards Harry and healed his bruise.

"I know, but I can't pull him out of this mission. He's the best candidate to go to this mission."

* * *

SOMEWHERE IN THE NINJA'S WORLD

A man in black robes with red cloud pattern was resting at a tree branch after eating his opponent. The plant-like member of the Akatsuki is headed to a small village to gather information about the whereabouts of the Hachibi. It was a disappointment when he found out that the Raikage and his brother has hidden the eight-tailed beast to another world, that's what Zetsu was going to find out.

"We should start with the Village of the Sun." said black Zetsu.

"Yes, the village leader is a very close friend of the eight-tailed jinchuuriki. He might have a clue." white Zetsu replied. Zetsu felt that someone was coming and he felt their chakras. He quickly concealed his chakra and vanished within the tree to observe stealthily the three ninjas that went past him. They were ninjas from Konoha who were headed to the village of the Sun.

"It's almost twilight, we need to camp." Zetsu heard the female spoke.

"Let's find a clearing then we'll set up." one of her companion said. He followed the three but as he came up to the first clearing, he found none of them. He continued searching for the three that will become his supper.

* * *

"What did you just do with that stick?" asked Kotetsu as Hermione finished waving her wand and muttering a lot of spell at the clearing they had set their camp.

"It's not a stick, it's a wand." replied Hermione sort of annoyed. "I cast a silencing and concealment charm so no one could ambush us. It's kind of a genjutsu but this one can't be released by anyone except for the caster." she continued explaining. Izumo smiled at the skill that the witch has shown.

"You really are our Hermione." uttered Izumo while he was arranging some firewoods to build fire. He made some hand seals and made a fire technique to burn the woods.

"Shh, someones coming." said Kotetsu. The three shut their mouths and watched as the Akatsuki member observed the clearing they were at.

"Should we?" asked the witch to their team captain. Izumo shook his head.

"As much as we want to, our mission is to go to the Sun Village. We'll report about this when we get back." Izumo answered. The three settled and watched the plant-like creature as it jumped away from them.

"So Hermione, tell us what you've been up to." Kotetsu said while Hermione was setting her sleeping bag. Hermione turned her attention at her eager team mates and told them everything from her first year in Hogwarts up to her Healer apprenticeship. Kotetsu and Izumo couldn't contain their laughs when Hermione told them that she pretended that she couldn't fight a troll in her first year to test if someone was brave enough to save her. While eating their dinner, which consist of wild rabbits, Izumo and Kotetsu told Hermione everything that happened during her absence, Orochimaru's attack in Konoha resulting to the death of the Sandaime, Suna's allegiance with Orochimaru and the Sannin's betrayal to Suna, Suna's allegiance with Konoha, the youngest living Uchiha heir siding with Orochimaru, Tsunade taking the Hokage's office and the Akatsuki's plan of abducting Naruto because of the Kyuubi sealed inside him. It was Hermione's turn to laugh at her team mates when they relayed what the Godaime has been asking them to do.

* * *

R&R :)


	4. Mission 4: Dumbledore's Friends

**DISCLAIMER:** J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto and Michael Scott owns The Secret of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel which will have an appearance in this chapter.

**AN:** OMG I'm such an idiot! I'm really sorry for the wrong spellings and incorrect grammars, I think I need to pick up my books that are already covered in dust and start getting immersed with the English language. I fear that my brain cells are currently away on a vacation so I mess up a lot and thank you very much my lovely reviewers for pointing out my mistakes, I'll edit it asap, this is so embarrassing. Anyway, Deidara will appear in this chapter and there will be a Hermione/Deidara action. I'm quite busy with school right now because we are doing our thesis so I'll be away for some time doing some field research and update might be slow(why am I even explaining this?) To answer your question, I made up the Sun Village, I forgot to include that in my last AN and yes, Izumo and Kotetsu are those from the chunin exam.

**Sidenote:** Any of you read "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" ? If you do, do you know if there are any Naruto/SotINF xovers, because honestly, that story will go with Naruto especially Billy the Kid (spoiler) who uses bugs and they have auras which is like the chakra counterpart and uses elemental magic. Um, yeah sorry for ranting, here is Chapter 4. I also forgot to say in the first chapter that you won't understand my fic if you aren't familiar with both HP and Naruto.

Thanks to everyone who left their reviews especially those who gave me constructive criticism. Thanks a billion :) I will try to improve my writing skills in the next chapters. Thank you also to those who added this to their favorites and followed this story.

* * *

**Mission 4: Dumbledore's Friends**

**HOGWARTS**

Minerva McGonagall stared outside the window and watched as the Giant Squid glide in the water while avoiding the stones that the students were throwing at it. Her lips formed into a thin line and she decided to sit down and ponder at the shocking revelation that Dumbledore has told her. She looked up and watched as the said person was napping inside his portrait and sighed. Why would he do such an idiotic thing that could possibly put the school into extreme peril? Voldemort and his Death Eater was one thing to deal with but this, the information that he gave her was completely and utter ludicrous. Not to mention the Ministry breaking into half, one that fights for the light side which were headed by Minister Shacklebolt and Harry and the Underground that basically follows Voldemort's ideals headed by Yaxley. Dumbledore was absolutely mental when he decided to accept something like this, its the same thing when he agreed to keep the Sorcerer stone inside the castle which led to Voldemort infiltrating it through Quirell and in the process, hurting innocent students. She sighed and started replaying hers and Dumbledore's conversation earlier.

Flashback...

_"What is it that you want to tell me, Albus?" asked McGonagall at the former Headmaster's portrait._

_"Ah Minerva, it is with great concern for Hogwarts that I have to tell you this very important information. As you know, I have comrades outside of our world and one of them has asked for my help. He asked me to extract a beast that was concealed within his brother." At this, the new Headmistress gasped at the idea. "He told me that they don't know how to extract it without getting the container killed so I helped them, it took me a while but I finally found a way. After I performed the spell, he has asked me for another favor to look after it for a while. The beast I'm talking about is the Giant Squid that currently resides in The Black Lake or what they call the Hachibi or the eight-tailed beast." He finished. (let's pretend that the eight-tailed beast is a squid.)_

_"That is outrageous, Albus! Why would you agree to such a thing that may cause destruction to this school?" asked a fuming McGonagall. Dumbledore remained calm and played with his beard._

_"I can't turn them down Minerva. The Raikage's brother was in danger because of the beast within him. He was being targeted by a group of criminals that wanted the beast." he replied calmly._

_"Raikage? And what is this group of criminals you are speaking of?" McGonagall asked._

_"The Raikage is the leader of a ninja village in the Hidden Country of Lightning and the criminal group is called the Akatsuki composed of high-ranking criminal ninja's. They exist in the other world but I have met some of them through my travel and research." Dumbledore explained at the bewildered Headmistress. _

_"What I ask of you is to continue looking after the Hachibi, I trusted Hagrid to take care of it and I can see that he is doing his job pretty well." McGonagall sighed in defeat._

_"If he is the leader of a ninja village, he can fend off those criminals himself. Why would you agree to this, it will only bring us more problems than we should have. We still have a war to fight!" She bellowed. Dumbledore had the audacity to cringe at the tone that the Headmistress used._

_"Please, I am asking you to watch for it until the Raikage returns. Won't you accept an old man's favor?" asked Dumbledore to the old witch. McGonagall let out a loud sigh._

_"Fine but I will put all the blame on you when something drastic happens. I can't believe you became Headmaster." McGonagall muttered the last part but the former Headmaster has heard of it and gave a hearty chuckle. "Oh don't you dare laugh, Albus." the Headmistress threatened which only caused Dumbledore to chuckle more._

End of Flashback

The new Headmistress wants nothing more but peace for Hogwarts and wizarding Britain but Dumbledore had to make it worse for her. Dumbledore was no doubt a great wizard but his heart was as soft as a sponge that he will do anything to help people, even if it kills him. She stood up and walked out from her office and went to the direction where the Hogwarts gamekeeper and now, Care of Magical Creatures professor resides. As she drew closer, she saw Hagrid walking towards the lake with a bucket full of fresh tuna.

"Hagrid!" she called the half-giant. Hagrid looked back and beamed as he saw the Headmistress walking towards him. "I need you to tell me everything about the Giant Squid. Report to me immediately after you finished feeding it."

"'Course professor." Hagrid replied in his thick accent. The Transfiguration professor walked away and headed for the greenhouse to speak with the new Herbology professor.

* * *

"Professor!" Harry Potter called out to his Transfiguration professor as she entered the greenhouse.

She took in everyone present inside the greenhouse to see Harry, Ron, Luna and surprisingly, Draco gathered in one of the tables and talking with Neville. She noticed that the blond was glaring daggers at the boy who lived but this was not new to the old professor. What intrigues her is why would he be with them.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, Miss Lovegood and Professor Longbottom, it's good to see you all well. I'm surprised that Miss Granger and the new Mrs. Potter is not here." McGonagall said reminiscing the time when they were only trembling first years waiting to be sorted into their houses.

"That's why we are here, professor. We need to talk to Professor Dumbledore's painting, this concerns Hermione's whereabouts. Professor, Hermione's been missing for almost two weeks." Harry explained.

"Miss Granger is missing? What would Dumbledore know?"

"The old crackpot knows everything." Malfoy's voice came. McGonagall looked sternly at the blond wizard but kept her mouth shut.

"Very well then, follow me." and the former students of Hogwarts including Neville, followed the new Headmistress to her office. They stopped in front a statue and McGonagall gave the password before they entered her office. When they got inside, Dumbledore's painting was awake and his eyes were twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles as he watched his former students enter the door.

"I have been waiting for you lot. I'm surprised it took you long before you came here." greeted Dumbledore as his five former students took a seat in front of the Headmistress' table.

"What? You know?" asked Ron. He should have believed Malfoy when he said that Dumbledore knows everything.

"I do, Mr. Weasley. Your visit here concerns Miss Granger. Am I right?" the students nodded. "I believe that you are looking for her. I must ask though, do you have any lead as to where she might be?" he asked. It was Luna who answered.

"Yes, we have found out that Hermione was from the Fire Country. She might have returned there." Dumbledore smiled knowingly. If they only knew how right they were.

"And we wanted to ask you if you know how to get there." added Harry.

"Ah, yes I do know how to get there but it's rather complicated." He replied.

"How so?" asked Harry.

"It's difficult to travel to a world hidden from us. It's hard but it is possible." Dumbledore replied. "You need to use a leygate." he continued.

"A leygate?" came Nevilles inquiry.

"I believe you know what are latitudes and longitudes are. When those two lines meet, they create a leygate which connects to other leygates scattered in the world. You can find a leygate in the Stonehenge but I must warn you, using a leygate may bring you to another dimension that is beyond your imagination or worse, it might bring you to another time. It is with much caution and precision should a person use a leygate." He explained. Everyone was drinking in what the former Headmaster said.

"Have you ever used a leygate before, Professor?" Ron questioned. Dumbledore turned his attention at him.

"Yes, several times but with a help of a friend." he answered.

"Will you help them, Albus?" came McGonagall's question. Dumbledore nodded.

"Of course. I will notify my friend and you will meet him at the leygate location tomorrow before dusk."

"Thank you Professor." said Harry gratefully to his former mentor.

"Anything for you, my dear students. Now run along and find Miss Granger." said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes. The five students left the office while saying their farewells and gratitudes. It was when they were completely out of earshot did McGonagall stared determinedly at Dumbledore's painting.

"You are hiding something important from them." she accused. Dumbledore smiled and stood from his chair to pet a portrait version of Fawkes(sp?)

"Ah Minerva, I am in no position to tell them what I know. They have to find it out on their own." he replied. The Headmistress huffed in defeat and sat on her chair to nurse her starting migraine.

"You and your cryptic words." she muttered and started doing some paperworks to occupy her time while she waited for Hagrid's arrival.

* * *

**STONEHENGE, ENGLAND**

Harry, Ron, Luna and Malfoy Apperated near the Stonehenge and were greeted by two person whom the four haven't met but have seen in old photographs, especially Harry and Ron. Ron and Harry were in shock to see the man whom the Golden Trio has researched about during their earlier year in Hogwarts.

"You are Nicholas Flamel!" exclaimed Ron as he recognized the man from his chocolate frog cards. The addressed man smiled at them.

"I'm surprised that the young generation knows us. Yes, I am Nicholas Flamel, the immortal Alchemist and this is my lovely wife, Perenelle. Dumbledore has asked my wife and I to help you get to another world." he replied.

"Thank you for helping us." Harry said.

"You must be Harry Potter." Harry nodded at Perenelle's inquiry. "Dumbledore has told us that you helped in protecting the Sorcerer stone. Thank you." and Perenelle bent down to give the boy a kiss on the forehead. Harry blushed while Nicholas smiled at the silly reaction Harry showed. Ron hid behind Luna not wanting them to know that he was with Harry when they saved the stone from Voldemort."Oh, how rude of me, I haven't asked your names." Perenelle said as she turned her attention to the group.

"I'm Luna Lovegood." introduced Luna in her dreamy tone.

"Draco Malfoy." answered Malfoy.

"I'm Ron Weasley." said Ron.

"I remember your name. Dumbledore said you were also there to protect the stone along with Hermione Granger." Nicholas said while looking at the red-head. At this Perenelle took the boy's large form and tiptoed to kiss his forehead to show her gratitude. Ron turned as red as his hair. "Now, where are you going?"

"To the Hidden Country of Fire." Malfoy replied.

"Ah, but there are no existing leygates in that country." Nicholas stated.

"What?" asked Harry, shocked that Dumbledore didn't tell them that particular information.

"I know that old geezer was not going to help us at all." Malfoy muttered while scowling at Harry. He was still mad at Potter for making him do this when he should be staying in London and save his friend from Voldemort's clutches.

"But there is a leygate in the Hidden Country of the Earth. From there, you will have to travel by foot to get to the Fire Country or you can use your brooms but I'm warning you, not everyone in that country knows that witches, wizards, sorcerers and alchemists still exist so be very wary. If they see you as a threat, they will no doubt kill you in an instant." continued Nicholas not caring for the children's outburst.

"We will be." Ron said taking in a large gulp at the thought of getting killed.

"Good, now you go on and enter the Stonehenge. Perry, do the necessary seals so they would land on their destination." commanded the Alchemist. Malfoy and Ron went inside the Stonehenge and positioned themselves.

Perenelle obliged at once at her husband's command and her aura started to flare creating small lightning at the end of her hair strands. Harry and Luna watched in awe as the place was covered in a green and icy white light coming from Nicholas and Perenelle while Ron and Malfoy could smell a strong scent of peppermint coming from the Alchemist's aura from inside the Stonehenge. After the two completed the seals, a portal opened in front of Malfoy and Ron.

"Go on now before it closes. Oh, and take this." said Nicholas and threw a scroll at their direction which Malfoy caught. "It will help you get back here." The two nodded and with a last glance at them, the blond and the red head entered the leygate.

* * *

**KONOHA **(Takes place after Gaara has been recovered and revived)

"Shizune, have you heard from Team Kakashi and Team Gai? Is the Kazekage okay?" Tsunade asked her.

"Hai! Team Kakashi and Team Gai has successfully recovered the Kazekage and are on their way back." she replied. Tsunade sagged in her chair and let out a satisfied sigh.

"That's good news." the Godaime said. "I had a really good feeling that they will defeat those Akatsuki."

"I still think that it's not wise to send Naruto after the Akatsuki. You know that they want him." Shizune voiced out.

"Naruto has grown up. He can fend for himself and he is the only one who can understand the whole situation." Tsunade explained to her former apprentice.

"But still-"

"I believe in Naruto! You should too." Tsunade cut out what Shizune was going to say. Shizune kept her mouth shut for a moment before exhaling.

"Of course." she conceded and left the office with a bow. Tsunade turned her chair away from her table and looked out at the clear blue sky.

'_You have done a great job, Jiraiya._' she thought with a satisfied smiled while watching the birds fly in the sky.

* * *

**SOMEWHERE IN THE HIDDEN COUNTRIES**

The blond Akatsuki emerged from under the earth and looked around to search for his missing arm that Kakashi has amputated. He hated that copy-ninja for his Sharingan the same way he hated Itachi. He scowled while searching for his limb when he heard some people coming. He hid himself behind a tree and concealed his chakra right on time when two ninjas bearing the Konoha emblem on their forehead protectors moved pass him. He glared at them hating every ninjas from that village for defeating him and Sasori.

"Sasori no Danna got killed by that brat and old woman, and he kept on preaching that art is eternal but look what happen to him, un." He muttered while scanning his surrounding for his missing arm that for some reason he still couldn't find. He was pretty sure that it landed somewhere near. He tried trailing back his steps and accidentally bumping into someone. A kunai suddenly was pointed on his neck.

"You are a member of the Akatsuki." the person who held him stated the obvious. He turned around to see the owner of the voice and saw a girl with brown hair and eyes wearing the forehead protector of Konoha. He smirked at her.

"I have no desire to fight, I'm just looking for something, yeah." He replied. Hermione held the kunai much tighter and pressed it on his throat. The witch obviously got the upper hand at which the blond Akatsuki smirked at. "You've got some nerves if you think you could kill me with that childish toy, yeah." he remarked provoking her. At this, Hermione clenched her jaw and dropped the kunai to land a punch on the blond's nose. Blood oozed from his nose and Hermione was brought into a sort of deja vu.

"I've faced worse." she said through clenched teeth. "And I've killed people and were-people and I can kill you right now." she continued. It was necessary for her to kill without remorse as a ninja and being involved in a war, for Merlin sake, she killed a bloody werewolf. (I forgot if she killed or just stunned Greyback, let's just pretend she killed him.) Deidara smirk grew more.

"Then prove it, kill me." he dared. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. She grabbed another kunai from her bag and pointed it at his heart. She held it tighter until her knuckles turned white but for some unknown reasons, she couldn't plunge the kunai at him._ Bloody hell, just kill him and be done with it._ Her brain commanded. She stepped forward and stabbed him with all her might but he disappeared and his body was replaced with a clay clone and before she could turn, she felt someone standing behind her.

"My, my for a ninja like you, you let your guard down so easily, yeah." He mocked. She gritted her teeth and turned her body to face him but he was gone. "Up here." He called. She looked up and saw him standing on one of the tree branch. His Akatsuki robes where being blown by the wind and that's when she noticed that both of his arms were gone. "I can kill you even without my arms, yeah." he stated aggravating the witch.

Hermione clenched her fist and tried breathing normally. She did some hand seals and used her ninjutsu to attack the blond man. She concentrated on the large boulders which floated in the air as she directed them one at a time at the blond's direction in such great speed making it look like meteorites. Deidara dodged the now blazing boulders in time before it exploded as it hits the trees and the ground.

"That's all you've got?" he mocked. Hermione grabbed three kunais from her pouch and threw them at his direction but he just dodged them like the way he dodged the meteorites. "I can't believe that you are a ninja when you can't actually hit me with anyth-" he was cut off when a red light collided to his body while he heard the brunette utter something. He landed on the ground with a loud thud and quickly stood up to gain his balance. He looked around and didn't see the Konoha ninja anywhere.

"Right here." he heard and saw her standing on one branch and was pointing a stick at him. He laughed at her.

"A stick?! That's a good one, yeah" he said and continued laughing. Hermione just smirked that can send Deidara a run for his money.

"Bombarda Maxima!" she yelled and a loud bang was heard as the Akatsuki member was hit by the spell. He managed to escape but only just while the spell managed to leave a large crater at its wake.

"Impressive." he smirked admiring what the witch did. He was liking this girl's art for some reason, it was interesting.

"I can do a lot of things with this stick and I could kill you with this." she said while pointing her wand at him. Deidara continued smirking but was disrupted when he coughed out blood. His head started feeling light and his vision started to become blurry until he was completely knocked out from loss of blood.

* * *

He woke up from the smell of burning wood and meat. As his vision adjusted, he saw the brunette ninja cooking some wild rabbits. Hermione heard some rustling and she gazed her attention to the waking blond.

"You're awake." she stated simply and continued roasting the meat. He sat up and nursed his pounding head and that's when he realised that one of his arms were sewn back.

"Did you.." he trailed off while waving his arm at her. She nodded her response without looking at his direction. "Thanks um?"

"My name is Hermione." she supplied for him.

"Yeah, thanks."

"The least you can do is state your name." she uttered.

"Deidara." he replied.

"I found your arm by the river when I was on my way back. I stayed back here to look for the owner (AN: I find this part weird but I needed this for the story) while my team mates are stopping by at a village." she said.

"Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" he had to ask. He was a missing criminal after all. Hermione shook her head and turned her attention at him.

"I can't kill someone who couldn't fight back because he is unconscious." Hermione explained. "I healed your nose and your arm but I'm sorry to say that I can't find your other arm."

"It's fine and you didn't really have to do that, yeah." he responded. Hermione stood up from her place and shoved a roasted rabbit at Deidara's face.

"Eat." she said. It wasn't a request but a command. Deidara took the food from her hand carefully and started to nibble the meat. "We'll part tomorrow and if we see each other again, I will not hesitate to kill you, injured or not." she said while they were eating.

"Fair enough, yeah." he replied. The two ate in silence.

"Drink this." Hermione said after tossing a small vial of red liquid at him. He quickly caught it but was skeptical to drink it. Hermione huffed in frustration and grabbed the vial from his hand and removed the cork to take a small sip from it. "See, it wasn't that bad. I'm not trying to poison you if that's what you think, it's a blood-replenishing potion. You need it." she explained matter of factly while her Healer self was kicking in.

"Whatever." he muttered but grabbed the vial from her and drank it until the very last drop that made his skin gain its color again.

"Let's call it a night. Oh, and we never met." Hermione uttered.

"I never met you, yeah." he replied to the bossy witch.

"Good." and the conversation died.

* * *

Hermione woke up early but found that Deidara has already left her. She stood up and gathered her belongings and as she looked at her bag, she saw a minature bird made out of clay perched on top of her bag. She took the small thing carefully and watched in awe as the bird came to life and started to fly around her.

Not far from her place, Deidara watched Hermione giggling while playing with the clay bird he created. He snapped his scope to remember the girl who amazed and helped him. He made sure that the clay-bird didn't contain his explosive chakra before leaving it to the sleeping kunoichi as a token of his gratitude. He left before dawn broke through the horizon and waited from afar to witness the rise of the sun while the witch slept.

"Oi, Deidara-senpai!" called an oranged-masked man. Deidara's eye twitched in annoyance. Tobi has the knack to ruin a perfect moment.

"Shut up, Tobi." and he sent one of his exploding spider clay at him. "Katsu!" and the spider bomb detonated sending Tobi flying high.

Hermione felt a tremor but shrugged it off concluding that it was a small earthquake which was common in that place and went off to find his team mates who spent the night on the nearest village.

* * *

R&R and I hope everyone in Japan and my countrymen in Mindanao are okay.

I know Hermione is a bit OOC here but she's a ninja in this story, 'nuff said. And I'm not really good with fight scenes so I'm sorry if I disappointed you.  
Wooo am I giddy today, I just watched Rurouni Kenshin, the live action movie this afternoon with my sister and it was so fan-freakin'-tastic!


	5. Mission 5: Kya! Finally

**DISCLAIMER: **In no way do I own any characters nor setting mentioned in the story, they belong to J.K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto, I only own the plot.

**AN:** Hello, here's chapter 5. Thanks to my lovely reviewers and readers :)

* * *

**Mission 5: Kya! Finally!**

**TEAM KAKASHI**

Sakura just finished reporting to Tsunade about the information Sasori has given her. It was her reward for defeating him, that's what he said. Shizune strongly opposed to send Naruto for this mission but Tsunade reasoned out that it is Naruto and Sakura who will have the most will to go and pursuit Orochimaru plus, Naruto was there listening to their conversation. Sasori has given Sakura a very important information, it is about his spy working for Orochimaru which he was suppose to meet in the Heaven and Earth bridge if Sakura and Elder Chiyo hadn't killed him.

The newly formed Team Kakashi, with Yamato as Kakashi's temporary replacement and Sai as Sasuke's, headed for the bridge. Naruto was still annoyed at the smiling ANBU for calling him names and so does Sakura but she was holding her temper which Naruto found odd. Naruto was Sakura's punching bag since she would always smack the blond every time he gets on her nerve but not Sai even though he was worse than him or Sasuke. It was only when Sai decided to mock Sasuke did Sakura's patience worn out and punched the living hell out of Sai.

"Okay, that's enough for you guys." Yamato's disapproving voice came which stopped the fight. "If you can't work out on your differences, I will send you all back to Konoha and we will withdraw this mission so the Hokage can give this to another team." he continued. Naruto gave a final glare at the pale boy and walked off.

"I will never accept you as my team mate." Naruto muttered. Sai just smiled and walked along with them while Sakura shook her head in defeat.

* * *

**MALFOY MANOR**

"What's your purpose?" Sasuke asked Voldemort's new heir. Theodore smirked and admired the newly burned Dark Mark on his arm.

"Power." he replied. Power over those who treated him like dirt, power over those real dirts, power to be recognized, power to become his father's equal and power to become much more than Draco. "And you? I heard from that white-haired man that you want to kill your brother?"

"Hn." he grunted. Theodore just smirked and went to grab a book from the expansive Malfoy library to read about forbidden spells. Sasuke watched Theodore warily. "I want to become powerful too. Powerful enough to kill my brother." he stated. Theodore turned his attention at the avenger and chuckled. The double oak door slowly opened revealing a very elegant woman looking at them with relief.

"You're both here, I have been looking for you Theo. Your girlfriend's been sending you owls but you never respond so Daphne took the liberty to visit here. She's waiting at the foyer." said Mrs. Malfoy. Theodore stood up and left the book on the coffee table.

"Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy." and he left the library and walked towards the Malfoy's foyer. Narcissa was left in the library with Sasuke who was busy polishing his katana.

"There is food in the kitchen if you're hungry, just call the elves." she said. Sasuke replied with his usual grunt. Narcissa sighed and left the Uchiha heir in the library. She walked to the west wing direction and entered the second door that was Draco's room. In here, she collapsed and cried silently, she missed his son so much. She hasn't seen him in person for almost a year and it's been a week since his last letter to her. She was worried that Voldemort has finally killed him but she would know if the Dark Lord has. She knows that his son can protect himself since Draco is already a member of the Order of the Phoenix and an Auror. She thought that Theo being here would somehow fill the gap that Draco has left in her since Theo is like his own son being Draco's friend but as the day pass while Theo stayed in the Manor, it proved to be a futile attempt.

* * *

Sasuke watched Theodore as he entered the library once again with a smug look on his face. He didn't like Theodore but he didn't hate him, it was an antithesis that he couldn't explain. It was like seeing himself in another person, he can see how much Nott wanted power as much as he wants which Sasuke both liked and hated. Liked because he can finally kill his brother but hated because he thinks that he was becoming like his brother which he didn't want to be.

"You have a girlfriend? Love will just hinder you from acquiring power." Sasuke stated flatly remembering why he didn't brought Sakura with him and leaving Naruto and the rest of Team 7 behind. No, Sasuke doesn't love Sakura nor anyone in Konoha but he felt that the more he stayed in Konoha, the more he will become attached with his former team and will eventually stop him from carrying out his plan to avenge the murder of his clan. That's why he left.

Theodore plastered his smirk once again while he sat back opposite him and grabbed the book he neglected before, opening it at the page he left. "Love? Who said anything about love? I don't love that girl, she's just my toy when I needed to release." Theodore said. "Have you never done it?" he asked the Uchiha incredulously.

"Hn." he grunted in response. Nott let out his mirth finding out Sasuke's lack of sexual adventure.

"Unbelievable. I bet a lot of girls has been spreading their legs in front of you ready to be taken any day." Nott said tauntingly.

"I don't care about sex if that's what you think. I have a lot more things to think about than pleasuring myself." Sasuke replied icily hating the expression Theo was displaying. The bastard was totally enjoying his discomfort on such subject.

"Maybe that is the reason you're so broody. Well, it's a given fact that you are a virgin," at this, Sasuke glared at Theodore which the latter didn't mind and continued. "But have you ever kissed?" Sasuke glared even more showing him his Sharingan. Theodore didn't seem affected by the intimidating glare that Sasuke was giving him and continued smirking at him. "No?"

"I have, now shut up and don't disturb me." he replied coldly and blocked out Theodore's constant chuckling. He was ready to use Chidori on Nott if not for their mentor's alliance. He stood up and left the library to go out and train his jutsus since Orochimaru and Voldemort are away Kami-sama knows where and to release his anger at Nott on the poor trees. Kabuto wasn't helpful at all and has indulge himself in the Malfoy's laboratory which was full of potions and practised making potions especially the one that Snape thought, the Felix Felicis or Liquid Luck.

"Luck, I don't need no such thing as luck." he muttered. He did some hand seals and his Chidori flared on his hand and he started training scaring the white peacocks away.

* * *

**HEAVEN AND EARTH BRIDGE**

Yamato, now disguised as Sasori waited on the bridge while Sakura, Naruto and Sai were hiding behind a large rock and watched their captain.

"Where could that spy be?" Naruto muttered impatiently. They have been waiting for almost 30 minutes but the spy hasn't showed up.

"Could it be them?" said Sai and pointed at two man wearing black cloaks that were about to cross the bridge.

* * *

"I swear to Merlin that you are worse than Goyle, atleast he can read a bloody map." Malfoy said in frustration at his red head companion as they both journey to the Fire Country.

"Well it's not my fault that they wrote this thing in this blasted characters that I can't understand. I didn't took Ancient Runes for a reason." Ron retorted exasperatedly. The thing that they were fighting about was the map of the Hidden Countries which was written in kanji. Draco grabbed the map from Ron and pointed his wand at it to translate every word to English.

"It's not Ancient Runes, you dolt." and he shoved it back in Ron face.

Yamato watched as the two continued bickering. Could it be possible that they were Sasori's spies? But why do they look different and they don't seem to be from around.

"Hey, you there, do you know where the Country of Fire is?" came Ron's voice as he directed his question to the disguised ninja. Yamato has noticed the different accent that he used. He opted to stay silent and watch the whole thing unfold.

"Ugh, let's just go Weasley so we could go back to Britain quickly. Tell Potter that I hate him for sending me here instead of letting me stay." Malfoy said and he walked pass Yamato with Ron in his tow.

* * *

"Maybe they're not the spies." Sakura muttered. She suddenly felt dejected after concluding that Sasori might have tricked her and she was foolish enough to believe him.

"Hello!" the three jumped when someone greeted them. It was the red-head who has spoken. "Um, do you know where we could find the Fire Country? We have some errands to do there and the map they gave us in the Earth Country was not very helpful."

"You're not from the Hidden Countries are you?" asked Naruto when he noticed their weird accent, he also noticed their lack of chakra signature.

"No shit Sherlock." Draco muttered at the stupidity of the jinchuuriki.

"Teme!" Naruto's fist clenched after hearing Malfoy and was ready to Rasengan his arse if it wasn't for Sakura restraining him. Ron glared daggers at Malfoy's direction which the latter just shrugged off.

"Don't mind that arse, so do you know?" Ron asked. At this point, Yamato has joined the group.

"What is the problem here, Sakura?" Yamato asked still in his Sasori form.

"They want to know where the Fire Country is." she replied.

"We do, we're from the Fire Country." Yamato replied turning his attention to the two foreigners, he then turned to his team mates. "It seems that we have been tricked, let's just go back and accompany these people. I can't sense any chakra in them." he continued. He did some hand seals and his puppet disguise vanished with a puff of smoke revealing his true form.

"Wicked!" commented Ron at Yamato's technique. Yamato gave a small smile at Ron's compliment and led the way for his five companion.

"I don't trust these people." Malfoy said flatly. Ron scowled at him.

"It's not like you have a choice." he replied rudely and shoved him from his way.

"Whatever." Malfoy said but still followed the ninjas.

* * *

"What do you think of them?" Sakura muttered in Naruto's ear. The blond discreetly glanced at the two man bickering and looked back at her team mate.

"I really don't know but I think they're just civilians and I hate that Albino blond." he stated icily glaring at Malfoy. Sakura just nodded her head.

"Did you noticed the similarity that you and that red head have, Naruto?" came Yamato's voice after observing Ron and Draco's verbal fight. He looked at his captain confused.

"Yeah, come to think of it, and the blond acts totally like Sasuke and he's kinda cute." added Sakura glancing at the scowling blond.

"Sasuke's way cooler then that dude." Naruto said not noticing that he had just complimented his rival and best friend. Sakura grinned wide at Naruto's comment about her long time crush.

"So, how long will it be before we get to the Fire Country?" came Draco's impatient question. He was tired of travelling by foot.

"Three days." said Sai for the first time. Ron's jaw dropped and Malfoy's scowl deepened. Oh he will really strangle Potter when he gets back to Britain.

* * *

**BORDER OF THE COUNTRY OF FIRE**

"So this is it. Beyond the river is the Country of Fire." Sakura said to the two while gesturing at the small bridge crossing the river. Ron finally smiled in relief.

"Finally. Thank you..?" he trailed off not knowing his companions name. He felt silly travelling with them for the past three days not bothering to ask their names.

"Oh, I'm Haruno Sakura" the pink-haired introduced. "And these are Uzumaki Naruto," she pointed at the Kyuubi container. "And Sai, he doesn't have a last name." the addressed pale boy smiled at them.

"And I'm Yamato." said the temporary team captain.

"I'm Ron Weasley and this ferret over here is Draco Malfoy." he said while gesturing at the blond Slytherin. Malfoy glared at the red-head while he heard Naruto laughed at the nickname Ron gave him and Sai writing in his scroll while muttering about albino ferrets.

"Shut up, Weasel-bee." he said icily glaring at everyone. Yamato and Sakura sweat dropped. Yep, definitely like Naruto and Sasuke.

"Anyway, you can come with us or you can find your own way in the country. It's a big nation and villages are very far apart so you might get lost in the forest." Yamato explained. Draco thought it out carefully and conceded with the idea. It would be best to tag along with them who knows the place better than them and if they do something funny, he will just have to rely on his wand and stun them. He nodded at the wood element user.

"We'll go with you. Maybe your leader might have some information about our agenda." he said. Yamato nodded and they all walked toward the direction of the Hidden Village of the Leaf.

* * *

**KONOHA**

Izumo, Kotetsu and Hermione were currently inside the Hokage's office reporting their successful mission on knocking out and defeating the bandits that plagued the Sun Village and helping them secure their mines.

"They were a bunch of lowly criminals who had the chance to buy some cheap weapons from a merchant. They didn't even fought us after we knocked out their leader and the villagers helped locking them up in a cave. We just have to stay a little bit to help them store their mines safely." Izumo explained. Tsunade smiled satisfied at the result of their mission. "We have something to add though." Izumo continued. Tsunade looked straight at his eyes and urged him to continue. Izumo coughed first. "While we were on our way to the village, we ran into one of the Akatsuki members."

The Godaime gritted her teeth and clenched her fist.

"And what did you do?" she asked slowly while her eyes turned into slits analyzing the ninjas.

"Nothing." Kotetsu carefully answered. Tsunade slammed her fist on her table creating a hole on it.

"IDIOTS! Why did you let an Akatsuki escape from your grasp? You imbeciles!" she bellowed at the chunins. They all cringed at the loud voice of the Hokage. Hermione bit her lower lip and tried to hide her guilt for letting two Akatsuki members get away.

"That wasn't included in our mission, Hokage-sama." said Hermione bravely to the Hokage. Tsunade calmed down a bit and sagged in her chair after hearing the kunoichi's reason.

"Probably, but I and the other Kages have declared an all out hunt for the Akatsuki members. The Akatsuki are on the move and are abducting all jinchuurikis and extracting the tailed-beast and its only a matter of time before they visit Konoha and take Naruto. It's best to be prepared before its too late, we don't want what happened in Suna to happen in Konoha." Tsunade explained. They were the last batch of ninja that she hadn't debriefed of the new order and the attack that has occurred in the Sand Village.

"The Kazekage was defeated?" Kotetsu asked in surprise. He remembered that neither him nor Izumo could defeat the Ichibi container during the genins versus the chunins and jounins competition. Only one person was known to have defeated him and that was Naruto during the chunin exam.

"Unfortunately. It was Deidara of Iwagakure and Akasuna no Sasori who managed to defeat Gaara but Team Kakashi and Team Gai has successfully retrieved the Kazekage from the Akatsuki." Hermione's eyes grew wide after hearing the Hokage's story and Deidara's name. She felt for her pouch where the clay bird was hidden and felt stupid for letting the blond Akatsuki flee and not killing him when she had the chance. She mentally swore to defeat Deidara and the other Akatsuki members if she had the chance. "If that is all, you can all go away and leave." The Hokage said shooing them from her sight. Kotetsu was about to open the door when a hyperactive blond ninja beat him to it who busted inside the Hokage's office giving the three chunins no chance of getting out.

"Tsunade-no-baa-chan, we've been tricked!" he said loudly as he entered inside the office. Tsunade's left eye twitched at the honorific that Naruto used and for his loud voice.

"Urusai Naruto!" and a fist landed on his head. Sakura turned to her master and bowed. "Sasori's spy didn't showed up. I guess you were right, Hokage-sama." she said. Hermione and her team were still inside the office hearing Sakura's report. Yamato and Sai entered inside the office with two foreigners on their tow and Hermione's breath was caught in her lungs as she recognized the two person who entered the office.

"Ron? Malfoy?" she gasped in shock after seeing two familiar faces. The two person that she named turned their attention at her and plastered the same expression she was sporting. Ron was the first one who dispelled their trance and proceeded to hug his best friend tightly.

"HERMIONE! We finally found you! You don't know how ballistic Ginny went after finding out you left, and Harry was so worried we thought that Voldemort took you as hostage, and we had to ask Dumbledore's help, and we met Nicholas Flamel and he helped us get to the Earth Country, and we met Mr. Yamato and his team and they helped us get here, and now we're here." Ron rambled while hugging Hermione.

"Ron. Can't. Breathe." she said in between breath. Ron realized his best friend's discomfort and loosened his hug and looked sheepishly at her. The rest of the witnesses stared weirdly at the red-head while Malfoy was still scowling. "Why are you here?" she asked. She turned her attention to the now glaring Malfoy then to Sakura, Naruto, Sai, Yamato, Izumo, Kotetsu and finally the Hokage.

To say Hermione was shocked that two of her classmates are here in Konoha was an understatement, how in the bloody world of Merlin did they know she was here in the first place?

"Potter sent us to look for you. We need to get you back in Britain before they mark you as a renegade witch." spat Malfoy while glaring at the witch with so much malice.

"Would someone please explain what is happening here?" Naruto asked while flailing his arms. He was confused at the moment and Tsunade didn't, for once objected at the blond's inquiry. "Why is Ron-san hugging Hermione-san?" Naruto gestured at the closeness the two aforementioned people.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. They were my school mates from Hogwarts." she explained briefly as she disentangled herself from her ginger friend.

"And we are here to take Granger back." piped Malfoy in a final tone. He took Hermione's wrist and started to drag her out but the witch wrenched her arm from him.

"What? No! I can't, not now." Hermione complained while nursing her wrist which started to turn red at Malfoy's firm grip.

"Why? Hermione, Voldemort is at it again and he is more powerful than before. He has allied with someone that looks a hell like him according to Zabini. We need you." said Ron with pleading eyes. Hermione hated seeing her best friend do that, she felt guilty for abandoning them and not telling them her true identity but it was for the best of her village.

"I-uh," she started. She sighed, they will find out eventually. "I can't go back right now, I'm a ninja of this country and I can't just leave without consent." she said apologetically.

"A what? You're a ninja? And when did that happen?" asked Ron in disbelief. _Here we go again_, she thought.

"Yes, before I found out I was a witch, I am already a ninja." she uttered with her head lowered not meeting Ron's eyes.

"So you can't leave this place but you can disappear from UK without telling anyone where you're going and now we found out that you're a ninja. Great story Granger, you should have joined the Daily Prophet or the Quibbler, I'm sure with your story, they will sell." Malfoy sarcastically said which snapped Hermione and glowered at the blond wizard. Malfoy then turned at the Hokage. "I believe you are the leader of this Village," Tsunade nodded not liking Draco's tone. "I am Draco Malfoy and he is Ron Weasley, we are Aurors, dark wizard catchers. We have information that our enemy has allied with someone from this place. His name is Orochimaru and he is currently in Britain concocting plans with the Dark Lord." he relayed to the Hokage. Tsunade's lips formed a thin line, Sakura gasped, Sai was doing his usual innocent expression, Yamato, Izumo and Kotetsu's eyes grew wide and Naruto clenched his fist turning his knuckles white and drawing blood from bruising his palms by digging his fingernails on it.

"Kuso." came Naruto's voice. "That's why Sasori's spy wasn't at the bridge, that bastard Orochimaru." everyone turned their attention to the ragging blond jinchuuriki.

"He was there all along? How did you found out?" Hermione asked.

"Blaise and Pansy. They went to us after finding out that Voldemort has chosen another heir, he chose Theo." Malfoy said through gritted teeth hating every minute he was in another world when he should be back in in Britain and helping Blaise and Pansy retrieve their mental friend.

"He replaced you with Nott?" she asked surprised that Malfoy's gangly friend would be chosen. Hermione didn't doubt Nott's potion talent and his intelligence but he was a frail boy that even during their duelling club in their Hogwarts day, he would be admitted immediately in the infirmary after being hit by a disarming spell.

"Are you deaf, and here I thought you were smart!?" He bellowed. He was tired of travelling and explaining and the last thing he needed is a stupid question from the person they call the brightest witch.

"For Merlin sake, Malfoy calm the fuck down!" yelled Ron at the blond wizard.

"Well if it wasn't for Granger leaving Britain, I could have saved Theodore from that snake pedophile." He yelled back fed up for being here and not in Britain to save Theo's sorry arse.

"It's not my fault that Nott turned derange like your Aunt and joined Voldemort, don't you dare blame this on me ferret boy because I never told him to join that evil snake! I have an obligation to this village more than an obligation in the ministry! I am here because I'm fulfilling my nine years of absence and do you think I'd really abandon Britain? I'm also here preparing and training more to help fight the Death Eaters and Voldemort's followers. I am entangled in that war the moment I became Harry's friend and for being a Mudblood!" Hermione hollered at the blond. The two glared daggers at each other after hearing what the medical witch has said and both were itching to get their wands out.

"Was he with someone?" Sakura asked carefully wanting their fight to stop. Malfoy glared at the medic nin but it was Ron who answered.

"Yes, from our gathered information, their names are Yakushi Kabuto and Uchiha Sasuke." he relayed. Sakura covered her gasp after hearing Ron's answer.

"Sasuke," Naruto hissed. "Tsunade-no-baa-chan, send me to Hermione-san's magical place. I need to save Sasuke from that bastard." Naruto demanded turning his attention to the Hokage and marching towards her and slamming his fist at the table. Tsunade didn't flinched and analyzed the whole situation. It was Hermione, Ron and Draco's turn to watch Naruto's outburst and how he managed to turn the whole conversation around.

"Team Kakashi, Team Izumo and the rest, please leave. I will call you all once I have discussed this with the strategist. Get out, now!" she bellowed sending them out. As they left, Tsunade yelled for her assistant that was currently eavesdropping behind the door.

"Hai!" Shizune answered after running inside her office.

"Call Shikamaru and Shikaku, we need to discuss something important." Tsunade said in her stern voice.

"Understood." she bowed before leaving an angry Tsunade.

"I never thought that he would ally with someone outside our world, that bastard Orochimaru is making this hard for everyone." she hissed. She opened one of her drawers and grabbed the sake bottle and drank it straight from the bottle.

"Are you still drinking, Tsunade?" came a voice she knew so well. She turned her chair and look out the window to see her old white-haired team mate sitting on the window sill. "I have some information on the Akatsuki's next target." he said as he jumped inside the tower and stared at the Hokage.

* * *

Kotetsu was looking worriedly for Hermione as he watched her and her red-head friend verbally fighting their blond companion. He turned his attention to his friend in time when he also looked his way. They both sweat dropped, it's not really the proper time to ask Hermione out on a date.

"For the love of Morgana!" Hermione suddenly said in frustration and pulled out her wand from her wand pocket and pointed it at Malfoy. "I still hate you Malfoy, even if you joined the Order and claim that you are not serving Voldemort anymore, I still hate your whole being. Diffindo!" she said while pointing the wand on Malfoy's shoulder. A gash was on Malfoy's shoulder before he could block it and he felt the sting of the spell casted on his shoulder . He glared at the witch as he nursed his bruised shoulder while both of her team mates were at shock of the witch's sudden outburst.

"Hermione, that's enough!" it was Ron who stopped their fight. Hermione suddenly jerked from her momentary insanity due to her rage and realised what she has done. She saw Malfoy crouching while holding his shoulder trying to stop the bleeding she has caused.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Malfoy." she apologized as she ran to his aid which he quickly rejected.

"Save it." Malfoy said through clench teeth and walked away from them still holding his shoulder. She looked at Ron who smiled sadly at her and brought her in a side-hug.

"You just have to understand him, Hermione. His friend joined You-know-who and is slowly becoming what Malfoy abandoned. He doesn't want Nott to become the way he was." Ron explained. Hermione lowered her head in shame and led her best friend to Ichiraku.

"By the way, these are Kotetsu and Izumo, my team mates." she introduced the two shinobis.

"Hey, I'm Ron." he introduced himself. The four went to the noodle house and found Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato.

"Hey, Um I just remembered we need to guard the northern gate, come on Kotetsu." bade Izumo as he dragged his friend towards the direction of the gate.

"Bye, Izumo-kun, Kotetsu-kun." Hermione said making both of her team mates wave signalling that they heard her.

"Ron-san, I will introduce you to the most amazing thing invented in the whole world, Ramen!" Naruto said as the red-head sat next to him. Teuchi smiled warmly and gave the new-comers their own bowls of ramen. Ron ogled at the large bowl and started pigging out after sniffing the delicious smell of the ramen -which resulted for Naruto and Ron to have a ramen eating contest. They both tied in the end after eating eight bowls of ramen.

"Ugh, I'm so full." Ron said while patting his belly. It has been days since the last time he had proper food in his system and he suddenly remembered her mother's delectable cooking and Harry's awful kitchen abilities. "Bloody hell, I have to write Harry." he suddenly exclaimed after remembering Harry's order to write him as soon as they find Hermione. He produced a parchment and a quill and ink from his cloak and started writing to his best mate. Hermione sat next to Sakura and Sai so she could not see what Ron was writing.

_Harry,_

_We found Hermione in the Fire Country and she is safe and sound, turns out she is a ninja but she will return once their leader has consented her. Tell Ginny to stop sulking._

_Ron._

He folded the parchment and did some spell to secure it from mail interference and took out Pig from his cloak pocket.

"Hey, is that bird still alive?" asked Naruto while looking at the small owl. Pig suddenly jolted and started flying around inside Ichiraku excitedly answering Naruto's question. Ron smiled sheepishly after getting a glare from Hermione. He caught his owl with so much difficulty and tied the letter on his feet.

"Bring this to Harry Potter, hurry I'm trusting you." he said. He gave the owl some noodle strands as a treat and watched it fly away.

"You kept Pig inside your pocket?" Hermione asked incredulously after Pig has disappeared from their view. Ron squirmed at Hermione's tone.

"Uh, yeah. He liked it in there." he explained with a goofy smile. Hermione gave him a disapproving look at his treatment for the poor animal.

"Kya! My duty in the hospital starts in 30 minutes!" Sakura suddenly cried and raced out from Ichiraku to her house to freshen up before going to her shift.

"Me too!" Hermione exclaimed and followed Sakura out. Ron and Naruto looked at each other and sighed.

"Well, since the girls left, I will go and train my Rasengan. Wanna come with me, Ron-san?" the blond asked the red-head and the latter nodded.

"Sure, since my best mate and my partner left me." Ron replied accepting Naruto's invitation and the two walked out and went to the training grounds to find Neji, Tenten and Rock Lee training.

"Naruto-kun, my dear youthful friend, do you wanna express our friendship through fist fight?" asked Rock Lee as he made some taijutsu move. He then noticed Naruto's red-head company. "And who might be this youthful person?" he asked. Ron looked weirdly at the fuzzy-browed boy reminding him of Luna and her weird words.

"I'm Ron." he said.

"He's Hermione-san's friend. These are Rock Lee," while Naruto said this, Lee made the nice guy pose. "Tenten and Neji." Naruto continued. Neji only grunted and Tenten smiled and wave. "Okay, I'm going to train now. Ron-san, do you wanna fight me?" asked Naruto. Ron suddenly looked unsure and shook his head slowly. "No? Okay, what about you Lee?"

"Yosh! I have been waiting for this for my entire youthful life. Naruto-kun, I expect you not to hold back." he said. Neji and Tenten stopped their sparring and watched the two and they joined Ron on the corner.

"Bring it on fuzzy-brow, dattebayo." said Naruto with a smirk.

Ron watched in amazement as the two fought each other. It was nothing compared to their wand fighting and he suddenly felt pathetic for his ability. If Hermione is a ninja as she claimed, then she can do the things those two are currently showing, he thought which brought goosebumps throughout his body and a sudden fear for his best female friend.

"Bloody hell, that explains Hermione's inhuman strength." Ron unknowingly said outloud making all the ninjas turn their attention at him as they saw him sweating in fear.

* * *

Thanks for reading, please review and tell me what you think, is it fast-paced or agonizingly slow?

Neji is dead *sobs*


	6. Mission 6: Imparting Knowledge

**DISCLAIMER: **In no way do I own Naruto nor Harry Potter, they belong to their respective creators (Kishimoto and Rowling), I only own the plot, well sort of.

ENJOY *insert big toothy grin*

* * *

**Mission 6: IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE**

**HEADMASTER'S OFFICE, HOGWARTS**

The statue outside started to ascend as the raven-haired boy, who was once a student of that school has decided to visit his former headmaster. He has question that he wanted answers and one of them was the startling revelation Ron has given him through a letter. He knocked and was let in with much complains coming from the portraits of previous Headmaster's of the school. An old man clad in blue robes with a pointy hat that compliments his clothes stared at the boy as he entered the room and smiled.

"Harry." he greeted his former student. Harry turned and focused his attention at Dumbledore's painting and was itching to ask the questions that were at the tip of his tongue.

"Professor," he greeted. He wasn't in the mood for more pleasantries, he was frustrated to find out what he knows. "Why didn't you tell us what Hermione really is? I had to find it out after nine years." _And I also found out that Voldemort's ally is a ninja. _He mentally added.

Dumbledore smiled at him and his infamous twinkling eyes were once again in display for our hero.

"Am I to presume that you have found her?" Harry nodded in response. "Brilliant, and to answer your question, it was Miss Granger's and her leader's request not to tell anyone of her true identity for the protection of their village, the same way we secure our world from the muggles. You do understand that?"

"Of course, Professor." he answered simply.

"Excellent, and since you are here I have something to tell you of grave importance." he looked at the chosen one who was staring at him. "The Giant Squid is a creature that must be dealt seriously, as a former student you must know that it does not harm anybody. But what the Giant Squid really is, is a beast that in the past caused great destruction in a far away land. The land of the Hidden Countries where Miss Granger was from. I do hope that you know the legend of the nine-tailed fox? (Harry nodded) There are other tailed-beast, ranging from one to nine tails and the Giant Squid is one of them, the eight-tailed beast."

"Are you sure, Professor?" Harry asked flabbergasted at the revelation of the former headmaster. Dumbledore nodded sadly and continued.

"Yes, and the time is near for the owner of the eight-tailed beast to take it back to their country. I have told this to the Headmistress but she wasn't pleased with the idea that I have allowed something dangerous to be kept safe here. What I ask of you is to look after it while the owner of the Giant Squid is still not back to take it. Can I count on you?"

"Yes, Professor." answered Harry not having much of a choice. Dumbledore smiled in relief and thanked Harry.

Harry left the Headmaster's tower with more questions than before he entered concerning the Giant Squid that didn't really looked like a squid but more of a cross-breed of an ox and an octopus. Actually, he hadn't even had the chance to ask more questions. Where's Hermione when you needed her? Oh right, he'll just have to wait for her to answer his questions that may help in the upcoming war, but for now, he needed to find this out for himself. With that in thought, he walked determinedly towards the library with an intention to check out the restricted section for information concerning ninja's and their combat abilities and added the tailed beast in his mental list of things to look for. _I should have brought Luna with me_. He thought which he quickly dropped. Luna was busy with her own research tracking down Voldemort's remaining horcruxes. They have dealt with the diary, the ring, the locket and the goblet, destroying them once they had it, but Ravenclaw's diadem's whereabouts is still a mystery for them. The ghost of Ravenclaw has yet to indulge such information to them and Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake was always at his master's side and undoubtedly unreachable.

As he was passing down a hallway leading to the library, he managed to find Professor McGonagall who was fashioning a look of mixed exhaustion and exasperation. The said professor noticed him walking down her way.

"Mr. Potter, what brings you here? Have you found Miss Granger?" asked McGonagall who was sporting a concerned look for one of her student. The two stood still and was facing each other. Harry nodded his head in response.

"I visited Professor Dumbledore and he told me something about the Giant Squid." he stated making the Transfiguration professor set her lips in a thin line. "I was wondering if I could browse in the restricted section." he said wanting the Headmistress to take heed for his request. McGonagall contemplated for a moment, Harry is not a student anymore but a respected Auror and a hero, she could not for any reason, not allow him to use the library for whatever purpose he might need it. Whatever his purpose might be for the good of everyone. With that in thought, she allowed the boy who lived to use the place to his hearts extent.

"Tell Madam Pince that I will vouch for you. I hope you find what you are looking for." she added the last sentence while placing one of her hands on the boy's shoulder.

"Thank you, professor." Harry said gratefully. McGonagall smiled for a second and left Harry to himself and the latter continued his way towards the library.

Opening the door, he was greeted by the musty smell of old parchments and books and some soft murmurings of the students studying. Harry surveyed the room and found mostly the older students hunched behind tomes of books reminding him of old times, when they were still students especially Hermione –who would always take refuge in the library. It didn't escape Harry that there were only few months from now before the N.E.W.T. And O.W.L.S exam would commence bringing him back to old days.

He strutted towards Madam Pince and told the old librarian that McGonagall has given him permission to research in the restricted section –much to the librarian's annoyance. She logged Harry's name and allowed him to use the said section in a limited time which didn't surprised Harry in the least way. The only person that Madam Pince trusted her precious book was with Hermione.

He entered the section and smirked at the thought that he didn't need to use his father's cloak to gain access in the restricted part of the library anymore. Scanning the titles of the books, he was looking for title's with the words ninjas, tailed-beast and other words that is similar with what he was looking for.

**AKATSUKI HIDEOUT**

The eerie cave housed the remaining Akatsuki members, with Tobi as Sasori's new replacement. The giant statue where the ritual of extracting the biju's was summoned by a holographic emulation of their leader and the member's stood on their position while the two-tailed beast was being extracted from it's jinchuuriki, thanks to Kakuzo and Hidan for capturing the Nibi's host.

"Leader-sama," said the black portion of the plant-like member, also in a hologram-like appearance, calling the attention of their Rinnegan-wielding leader. Their leader looked at him and nodded. "The Sun's daimyo has confirmed our suspicion that the Raikage and the Hachibi's jinchuuriki has set foot outside our world and has hidden the Hachibi somewhere else."

"He said something about a place called Britain and a school that teaches magic." continued his white-half self.

"The wand-wielding community. Interesting." came the deep voice of Uchiha Itachi. Their leader looked at the Uchiha prodigy inquiringly.

"Explain." he commanded with an air of authority laced on just that simple word.

"They use magic, similar to a ninjutsu but they use a wand to utilize their power –a stick that is embedded with a magical core from mythical animals that helps channelling their power. They are long-ranged fighters and unlike us, they can use magic to withstand an enemy without getting themselves exhausted. This is an upside for their part but they are in their most vulnerable state if they are disarmed of their wand. Only few are known to use wandless magic and it is extremely difficult." Itachi explained seriously. Being a former member of the ANBU root and one of Konoha's elite clans has its advantage to acquire such top secret information.

"I see, so we are at an advantage." commented Kisame, Itachi's shark-like partner. Itachi nodded understanding what the Samehada master was trying to insinuate.

"Fuck yeah! Those magical bastards wouldn't stand a fuckin' chance!" Hidan pipped in. It's still a wonder how Hidan manages to replace every adjectives, nouns and verbs in his sentence with cuss words. Tobi closed his ears with his hands not wanting to hear Hidan's constant swearing and muttered a mantra that he is a good boy.

With the Akatsuki mostly composed of long to mid range fighters, they can easily deflect those wands.

The blond member was silent as Itachi's words sunk into him remembering the girl he fought days ago. To what the Sharingan user has said, it seems that the Leaf kunoichi that introduced herself as Hermione fits perfectly to Itachi's description.

_So that's a person who uses magic. _He thought. The coincidence of the situation that he was able to fight a person who possesses both magic and chakra gave him an inkling of what their kinds are capable of. He smirked as he mentally replayed their fight in his head blocking out what their leader was telling them.

"Itachi, Konan, Deidara and I will be the ones to capture the Hachibi." explained Pein. He chose themselves because they were the ones who specializes in long and mid range fights. This snapped Deidara from his reverie and listened half-heartedly to their leader's further explanation which consist of Tobi's role for their teleportation and certain actions they must do in order to seize a tailed-beast without a host.

As much as Deidara wanted to babble out what he knows of the likes that they may probably encounter in the foreign land, he gave his word to that girl –who stitched his arm back, that he will not let anyone find out their encounter. This made the blond confused, why would he keep such a trivial information –that will immensely help their organization succeed, a secret? Of course he owed his left arm to her but they were enemies and he wasn't about to believe that the leaf ninja hasn't ratted him out to their Hokage. A part of him wanted to speak up but a tiny voice in his head was telling him that it was something that he should keep to himself. He was utterly impressed at the brunette's power with just a flick of a stick, that Itachi called a wand. It was like a piece of art he has never seen in his life which greatly caught his interest. For some reason, Deidara wanted to see Hermione again, even if it meant their inevitable fight to occur once more.

**KONOHA**

The brunette Healer presently sat on one of the white chairs furnished in the hospital's lobby as she sipped her chamomile tea with a satisfied sigh after an exhausting day. She, Sakura, Ino and Shizune has just finished brewing some medical potions for the patients and cooking four basketful of soldier pills for the shinobi's that are on their way to their respective missions. She mentally cringed at the foul taste of the pills that Sakura asked her to taste, that somehow brought some of its vile taste back in her tongue. She quickly washed them away with a full gulp of her tea.

It was time to meet Ron, who was currently hanging out with Naruto, Sai, Yamato, Lee and Kakashi –whom she met earlier in the hospital while he was still confined. He was released three hours ago and was back on his feet again. They were in the training grounds because Hermione insisted Ron that he learn some basic taijutsu, who knows, it might come handy during the war. Naruto was ecstatic to teach him along with Lee and Yamato was helping Ron channel some chakra throughout his body, which Tsunade noted that he and Draco possessed but was overpowered and suppressed by their magic. Hermione explained that they both came from a long line of pureblood families, whom every child born within possess magic with the exception of some (squibs in particular), so it would be painfully difficult for them to release their chakras. Draco scoffed at the idea of training taijutsu with Ron reasoning that he was powerful enough to defeat Death Eaters without learning some ninja techniques. Hermione scoffed back at his statement countering that they will also deal with ninjas in the battle with the alliance made by both snakes, which resulted Malfoy to sneer at her and walked-off.

Malfoy was apparently in the company of Shino, Shikamaru and Chouji. She found it somehow amusing that Malfoy could actually get along with them, of course the bug user was not much of a talker and the shadow-manipulator for some reason, finds everything troublesome while Chouji reminded Malfoy greatly of his dead friends. Crabbe and Goyle were both consumed by the feindfyre, Goyle was only trying to rescue Crabbe which resulted to his own death. Neji and Tenten on the other hand disliked the blond wizard for his conceited attitude while Hinata was saving judgement saying that everyone has their good sides and Ino, upon seeing Draco, has her eyes flash with hearts, much to Ron's annoyance. Hermione distinctively remembered hearing Ron mutter about stupid ferrets and their stupid looks.

As for her team mates, they are currently guarding the northern gate, much to Kotetsu and Izumo's chagrin. They ranted to their female team mate what it's like to sit idly in the guard house watching civilians and ninja's walk in and out the gate.

"Why can't the Hokage assign this to the genins?" was Kotetsu's specific words which shockingly, Tsunade heard. It was unfortunate that the Hokage was on her way to the northern gate when she heard Izumo and Kotetsu's whining (mostly Kotetsu's), which resulted for the both to guard the gate 24/7 for the whole month, meaning they will not be tasked with another mission. Hermione left her two team mates sulking at the punishment the Godaime has imposed on them.

"Teme, why do I have to be dragged in this punishment?" Hermione heard Izumo telling his partner as she walked away.

Tsunade has chosen Hermione, team Kakashi, team Asuma, team Kurenai and team Gai to be dispatched to wizarding Britain in order to make an alliance with the Ministry of Magic to fight Orochimaru and Voldemort and the added information from Jiraiya, that the Akatsuki are on the move to Hermione's old school to capture one of the tailed-beast, to also apprehend them. The former Hogwarts student's were in shock after finding out what the Giant Squid really was, even Hermione didn't know – causing her to mentally slap herself for being oblivious. They will leave once the ninjas from Suna – who wanted to help to return the favor of saving the Kazekage, arrive in Konoha consisting of Temari and Kankuro.

The scroll that Flamel gave Malfoy was actually a trigger to open the leygate in the Earth Country, which will be a faster way to travel back in Britain. Ron has once again sent word to Harry that they will be back with reinforcement to help in the upcoming war and an enormous information about Voldemort's ally.

Hermione stood up and threw her styro cup in the waste basket before going on her way to meet up with Ron. Sakura was waiting for her on the hospital's gate when she emerged from the front door.

"Sorry for making you wait." Hermione apologized while she was walking towards the pink-haired kunoichi who was leaning against the hospital's arc. Sakura shook her head and beamed at her.

"It's fine, let's go." Sakura replied when the witch has finally reached her. They walked off to the direction of the training grounds and talked about anything under the sun as they journey.

* * *

**AN**: I am so sorry for the long wait and I won't make some lame excuses, I'm just really, really sorry for making you wait. I thought that I could update during Christmas break. This chapter is only a filler and I hope that I didn't disappoint you in any way with this chapter, I'm currently suffering writer's block. Sorry but I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter. :)) I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year.

Thanks to everyone who gave me positive feed backs and those who have added this to their favorites and have followed this story. Thank you so much, you are the reason why I'm continuing this story


	7. Mission 7:Welcome to the Wizarding World

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto and Harry Potter, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and J.K. Rowling

**AN: **Sorry for the long wait, enjoy. Thanks to everyone who continues to read this story and for following, for adding this to your favorite and leaving me positive feedbacks.

* * *

**Mission 7: Welcome to the Wizarding World of Britain, Ninjas**

Ginny got back from the Burrow and found her husband slumped on his desk inside his office. She stood on the doorway and watched Harry slept with his glasses askew. A smile crept on her lips and she decided to grab a blanket in their bedroom for her husband. She came back and wrapped him the blanket to make himself warm and as she was doing so, she noticed a letter in Ron's messy scrawl which she quickly snatched and read under the lamp.

_Harry,_

_Finally! Hermione has been permitted to go back with us but we don't know to what extent her stay will be. The Hokage(their leader) has also sent some people to accompany and help us with the upcoming war because Orochimaru(You-know-who's ally) is infact a missing criminal from their country and has been for the long time. _

_He is a very powerful ninja, Harry. Judging from what everyone has told me here, he's a creepy guy who likes to experiment a lot on human bodies and creating forbidden techniques -which they call jutsus here, by the way- and has discovered how to become immortal. He could be You-know-who's twin but that's just me. According to Sakura(Hermione's fellow ninja), this Orochimaru guy uses other people's body as his soul's host and he will change vessel if that body cannot support his soul any longer. Sasuke Uchiha is his next vessel. It's much more abhorrent than You-know-who's horcruxes. Kabuto Yakushi is a medical ninja and is the one helping Orochimaru in his experiments and research, to what their bingo book tells, he is a very intelligent and deceitful ninja and has been a spy of Orochimaru for Merlin knows how long. He is also a very skilled medic and uses it to his advantage in combat. He could pass for a Slytherin, if you ask me. Sasuke Uchiha is another story. He's just like you Harry, his family was murdered but his was by his brother. He seeks to avenge the murder of his whole clan by killing his brother. He came to Orochimaru to become powerful to kill his brother which made him become a missing ninja and an S-class criminal -the highest and most dangerous kind of criminals in the Hidden Countries. Orochimaru wanted him because he possesses an ability that only their clan have, to what my memory recall, they call it Sharingan or something along the line, it is an eye ability which can create illusions and other things that is beyond our imagination which can actually inflict pain on the person receiving it. We need to be careful Harry, they seem to be the real deal. I bet You-know-who can't be even compared to those three which is saying a lot! But don't worry, our companions are also powerful. You should see how Hermione fight during their spar, she's scary, much more scarier than Snape and the ninja's here are so amazing, it makes our magical abilities mediocre compared to them._

_That's not all, Harry the Giant Squid is a tailed-beast! Can you believe it? Anyway, the Akatsuki -a group consisting of S-class ninja criminals- are on their way to Hogwarts to capture the Giant Squid and that is also one of the reason the Hokage has sent a lot of reinforcement, they will seal the Giant Squid so the Akatsuki can't capture and use the beast and to also apprehend the Akatsuki. They have been the cause of a lot of turmoil in their country and are wanted in every countries here._

_We will return in five days, we are still waiting for other ninja's from a different country to come with us. _

_Ron._

_P.S._

_I have been training some kind of martial arts here on Hermione's insistence in the hopes that it might be useful._

Ginny re-read the letter and could still not believe what his brother has written. She now knew that Hermione is a ninja after Harry received Ron's first owl but after reading Ron's new mail, she felt that the war, it seems that it was much more bigger than she thought it would be. Voldemort was one thing to be dealt with but he was now having an alliance with ninja's with unimaginable strength and power and not to mention the Akatsuki. They will be fighting two battles to save the wizarding world from chaos.

She looked at the date of the letter and saw that it was four days ago since Harry has received the mail so that means, Hermione and the others will be in Britain tomorrow. Ginny could not wait.

* * *

Harry has found out that it was not an intelligent idea to sleep slumped on his office table. He woke up with a stiff neck and sore back that he had to crack his neck and roll his shoulders to make it feel better. He was no Healer, that was Hermione's job, so he had to treat himself the muggle way. While he was stretching, he noticed the blanket that was draped on him.

"Ginny.." he muttered as he was folding the blanket while thinking of his wife. He was lucky to have been married to the girl that she saved in the chamber of secrets years ago. Ginny has saved Harry from himself, from succumbing into oblivion.

Harry stretched his arms and legs as if he was a feline and yawned. He looked at his watch to see it was only after dawn has broken out and quickly remembered that today was Hermione, Ron and the others arrival. He hasn't told Ginny of this wanting to surprise her of Hermione's return. Harry saw how devastated Ginny was when the female member of the Golden Trio disappeared. Hermione and Luna were the only girl friends that Ginny have, same goes for the two aforementioned females.

He stood up from his position and was thinking of a nice hot shower before going to the place where they would arrive. He emerged in his office and went to their bedroom to find Ginny lounging in their love seat while waving Ron's letter. Her face was set in various emotions but two emotions were very obvious. Anger and anticipation. Harry was stock speechless and was looking back and fort from his wife to the letter wondering how Ginny had managed to find Ron's mail. _Idiot! You left it on the table up for grabs. _His mind screeched at him.

"Well, you can explain now." Ginny said in a dangerous low voice making Harry's inside run around in panic. One should know that the wrath of a female Weasley is not a site to behold especially if you are on the receiving end. Harry scratched his head and laughed nervously.

"See, um I wanted to surprise you." he explained. Ginny raised one of her brows at him. "You're welcome to come with me when I meet them." he added.

"Even if you didn't invite me I will bloody come with you come hell or high water." she replied without falter. Harry smiled sheepishly and walked towards her wife to give her a hug.

"I'm sorry if I kept it from you." he muttered from her hair where he buried his face. Ginny returned his husband's embrace as if her brewed up emotions minutes ago has vanished into thin air.

"Fine, now fix yourself up mister, you don't want them to see you like that." Ginny replied. He disentangled himself from her arms and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

When he was finished and dressed up, he went out and found Ginny in their living room and was finishing her cup of earl grey tea. She saw her husband and examined his choice of attire which was his everyday Auror outfit topped with his messy black hair.

"Let's go." he uttered. She stood up and held Harry's offered hand before they Apperated to their destination. When they got there, Luna was already walking around the Stonehenge and was humming some children lullaby.

"Hello Harry, Ginny. It's good to see you both today." Luna greeted in her usual dreamy voice. Ginny smiled at her eccentric friend and gave her a fierce hug.

"I'm glad to see you too." said the female Potter to her friend. The three sat down on a boulder as they waited for their friends to arrive.

* * *

"So, how will we open the leygate?" Hermione asked Draco and Ron. The latter shook his head while Malfoy pulled something from his cloak pocket and produced a small sealed scroll.

"Flamel said this will help but I don't know how." Draco explained as he tossed it in her direction. Draco and Hermione has somehow settled their dispute after Ron has made the witch see some reason to trust the blond. Hermione opened the scroll and read the contents written in Ancient Runes.

"According to this, to activate the leygate, all of us needs to offer a drop of our blood so the portal will know who it will admit. Also, two people will do the chants written at the bottom while writing down the seals using our bloods until it forms a circle. Malfoy, since you and I are the only ones capable of reading Ancient Runes, no offence Ron, I think it will be wise if we do the chants." she explained to everyone. Draco shrugged his shoulder in agreement and went to Hermione's side to read the runes.

As Hermione and Draco prepared to make the seals, everyone has given a drop of their blood on a saucer. When the last one has given a drop of his blood, the place glowed white and green and a vague smell of peppermint has engulfed them and when Hermione and Draco finished their chanting and seals –using the mixed blood to write the seals on the ground- the portal has made its appearance to everyone. Almost all of them watched in fascination as a mixture of white and green has swirled in front of them.

"This is it?" asked Kakashi to the wizards. Ron and Draco nodded in unison. Kakashi, along with Yamato, were assigned to be the captain of the teams.

"Yes, but we need to make sure that it is the right one, we can't afford-"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" came Naruto's excited voice and before anyone had the chance to stop him, he jumped inside the portal.

"Wait, Naruto!" Ron called but it was too late.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata said in fright as she saw Naruto's form being sucked inside the oblivion created by the portal. Kakashi shook his head, Yamato sighed in defeat and Sakura was ready to pummel his blond team mate.

"I guess we should follow him in case he ended up in another dimension." Shikamaru said. "I was going to suggest that we send a Kagebunshin first before we enter, so troublesome." he added.

"Hn." said Temari.

One by one, they entered the leygate and landed on the person that went before them at the other end of the portal.

"Ugh, guys, get off me!" said the hyperactive blond while everyone was piled up on his back. Ron was the last one to emerge from the portal and obeyed immediately at Naruto's wish.

"Naruto, you jerk!" said Sakura -after they have scampered away from the blond's back- and gave her blond team mate an uppercut that sent Naruto flying.

"What is this place?" Tenten asked as she looked around their destination. Everyone studied their surrounding and noticed the remarkable stones set up in their front.

"Welcome to England." came a voice from their behind. Everyone, with the exception of the wand-wielders, grabbed their kunais and was ready to attack. "Woah." said Harry in surrender while showing both of his hands up. Ginny and Luna were both sporting a curious look at everyone.

"Drop your weapons, they're my friends." Hermione commanded them. The ninja's were still suspicious but conceded with her request.

"Harry, Ginny, Luna!" Hermione exclaimed as she ran towards her friends and gave them a tight hug. "I missed you so much." she added while still tangled in their embrace.

"You have a lot of explaining to do young miss, and I miss you too." Ginny said. After some seconds, they released their hugs and Hermione introduced them to everyone.

"Sorry about earlier." Yamato apologized.

"You should be." Ginny retorted while giving them her vicious glare. The ninja's sweat dropped at the intensity of her glare.

"Anyway, let's head to the headquarters. We have a lot to discuss." Harry said after everyone has been introduced. "We'll do side-along Apparition." he counted every ninja's and calculated how many ninja's to a wizard/witch.

"Hinata, Ino, Kiba grab on to Ginny, Shino, Neji and Shikamaru with Malfoy, Naruto and Sai with Ron, Sakura, Kankuro and Tenten will be with me, Chouji, Temari and Lee, you'll be with Luna, and Captain Kakashi and Yamato will be with Harry." Hermione instructed. Everyone almost complied, except for Draco and Neji who looked at each other with malice. "Come on you two, Neji just hold any part of Malfoy and be done with it." Hermione said in exasperation.

"Yeah, don't be such a chicken." Kiba chimed in which earned him a glare from the Hyuuga.

"Shut up, dog-man." Neji hissed at the Inuzuka. Kiba and Akamaru growled at him but was both caught off guard when they felt that their navels where being pulled and before they noticed, the two heard a pop and felt the nauseating sensation of Apparition.

When they all fell on the Black's living room, the ninja's glared at the wizards and witches for apparating them without preamble.

"What was that all about?" asked a seething Kankuro.

"Sorry, we need to do that before a fight occur." Ginny explained with a sly smirk.

"Ugh, I feel terrible. Where is the bathroom?" Chouji asked. Harry pointed them the location and Chouji, Naruto, Kiba, Lee and Yamato ran towards the bathroom to heave.

"I'm going back to my flat, I'll be back before noon." said Malfoy before Apparating away.

"How do you manage to keep doing that, that thing he just did?" Ino asked curiously after watching Malfoy Apparating away.

"We just got used to it." Luna answered in her dreamy voice. "Harry, I sense some wrackspurts upstairs, may I investigate?" she asked him. Harry nodded at the loss of answer which Luna noticed but let it slide and skipped towards the stairs.

"What is a wrackspurt?" asked Sai while watching the blonde witch ascend the stairs.

"Um, well you see, Luna is-" Ron started to explain but was cut off by Shino.

"They are legendary bugs that infiltrates the mind and makes your head feel fuzzy. Why do I know this? The Aburame clan has been researching this for years but its existence has remained a legend to this day." he explained. All the ninja's stared at him in awe for it was the first time that Shino has managed to cut someone's sentence. Sai on the other hand was scribbling furiously in his scroll for the new information that he has found out.

"Bloody hell, I thought that only the Lovegoods were obsess with that." Ron exclaimed.

After everyone has recovered from the effects of apparating, thanks to the medics, they all settled in the dining area. Ginny and Hermione cooked breakfast for everyone while they waited for Minister Shacklebolt and the rest of the Order member to arrive.

"I have something to announce later." Ginny whispered to Hermione as she was passing by her to take the mash potatoes in the dining hall.

When the witches finished cooking, everyone settled themselves on the dining table and ate breakfast harmoniously. Sai was busy talking with Luna, Ginny was giving some love advice for Hinata when the red head noticed the Byakugan user stealing glances at the blond jinchuuriki –who was now having a debate with Ron and Chouji about the best food in the whole wide world- while Temari and Shikamaru were both engage on the issues between the alliance of Suna and Konoha, Ino and Sakura are both listening to Hermione's stories about the wizarding world, Harry was talking with the captains about the current issues and vice-versa while the rest were eating rather happily.

"I'd almost forgot the taste of Shepherds pie."said Ron while patting his belly after they had all finished their breakfast. Kreacher was now cleaning the table and was busy muttering about muggles, mudbloods, half-bloods and blood-traitors dirtying his mistress' house.

"What is that?" asked Tenten as the elf vanished in the kitchen.

"An elf, a house elf particularly. They are honor bounded to their masters unless they are freed by their masters." Hermione explained not liking the idea of elves being slaved.

"And how do you untie them from their masters?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"Give them clothes." Ron answered. "Harry once tricked Malfoy's dad by returning his book with a sock in between the pages. He gave it to his elf without knowing and accidentally freeing his elf." Ron relayed.

"Ah, yeah memories." Harry muttered leaning back on his chair with both of his arms behind his head.

"And why are you not freeing that one? He seems like a grumpy one and Hermione-san doesn't seem to like you keeping the elf." Sakura said after observing Hermione's disapproving look.

"Well, we all wanted to but that elf knows a lot of information that we do not wish to leak out and besides, Kreacher –that's the elf's name- doesn't want to leave his mistress' house. This house used to be my godfather's but after he died, it was passed down to mine since he was the last of the Black's. Since I am now the master of this house, I inherited not only this place but also Kreacher. He hates me but he still obeys me because he's afraid that I will give him clothes." Harry informed them. Everyone chuckled at his story except for Hermione who was still frowning.

"Aw, come on now Hermione cheer up, it's just Kreacher. Remember, Harry released Dobby from the Malfoy's." Ron said trying to cheer up his female best friend.

"Fine. Ginny, you said you were going to announce something, yeah." Hermione said not realising the last word she said. Kakashi's keen ears didn't missed that but kept his mouth shut for the moment. It seems like it wasn't a big deal but, only the blond Akatsuki member was the only one he knew that had the habit of pasting that simple word after each of his sentences.

"Right, well I just want to say that Harry and I are both expecting." Ginny said grinning wide.

"Congratulations, Ginny! I'm so happy for you and Harry." Hermione said as she proceeded to hug Ginny. The rest also congratulated the female red head but Ron.

"How dare you Harry! Ginny's just eighteen!" Ron bellowed at his best friend and tackled him on the ground.

"Ron!" Stop!" Ginny said whilst trying to pry his brother from her husband. Ron remained pinning Harry down while pouncing on him.

"Ron, enough!" Hermione also tried but failed to release Harry from Ron.

"No! I know you are married but she's just eighteen. I trusted you!" he continued. Harry used his arms to protect his face from being pulped. It seems Ron's punches has gotten stronger and harder than before.

"This is useless," said Hermione giving up using physical force. She pulled her wand out from her pocket. "Accio Ron." casted Hermione which caused Ron to fly away from Harry and landed on the floor in front of Hermione. "Protego." she casted again so Ron cannot go near Harry. "Come on." she huffed and pulled Ron by his collar out of the dining room to the living area. "Let's play wizards chess." she said in order to avert Ron's mind.

"I trusted Harry, Hermione. How can you be so calm about this?" he asked while taking the offensive side of the game.

"I don't have a sister. You should understand them especially Harry, you are his best friend after all." said Hermione while analysing what piece she should move first.

"But Ginny is my little sister and she is too young." he said as if that has explained a lot of things. Hermione smiled.

"Are you doubting Ginny?'" she chuckled before continuing. "She's a grown up woman now Ron, don't you see it? And Harry wants to start his own family now, you know how he grew up without a family. You should try to understand him." she said trying to make Ron see reason. Ron clutched the chess piece that he has siege from Hermione tight before loosening it and breathed out.

"You're probably right, it's just brother's instinct I guess." he shrugged. Hermione smiled.

"Good, now you need to apologize to them especially to Harry. I can't imagine how Harry is feeling right now after you tried to beat him into a bloody pulp. Honestly Ron, have you forgotten that you trained taijutsu, Harry's probably suffering right now."

"Oh, ye-yeah. I forgot about that." he said while scratching his head. "By the way, checkmate." Ron declared.

* * *

Please review :)


End file.
